The 2018 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented Pennsylvania State University in the

2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2018. The regular season began on August 25, 2018, and ended ...

. The team was led by fifth-year head coach James Franklin and played its home games in

Beaver Stadium Beaver Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium on the campus of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania. It has been home to the Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference since 1960, though some parts of ...

in University Park,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. They were a member of the East Division of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. Penn State, coming off an 11–2,

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been pla ...

-winning season in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, began the year at 10th in the preseason

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

. They narrowly escaped an upset in their first game of the year by defeating Appalachian State in overtime. The Nittany Lions won their first four games and entered an anticipated home game against No. 4

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

at No. 9, but lost to the Buckeyes by a score of 26–27. The following week the team was upset by

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

on homecoming. The team rebounded with a home win against then-No. 18

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

, but was blown out the following week by

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

42–7. The Nittany Lions finished the regular season in third in the Big Ten East with a conference record of 6–3. They were invited to the Citrus Bowl, where they lost to

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

to finish the year at 9–4. Senior quarterback Trace McSorley led the team in passing, finishing with 2,530 passing yards and 18 passing touchdowns to go along with 12 rushing touchdowns. He was named second team All-Big Ten by both the media and coaches. During the season, McSorely became the all-time school record holder in several categories, including career passing yards, completions, passing touchdowns, and total touchdowns responsible for. Junior running back Miles Sanders finished in second in the conference in rushing with 1,274 yards. On defense, cornerback Amani Oruwariye and lineman Yetur Gross-Matos were named first-team all-conference by the media.

Previous season

, the

Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interc ...

finished with an 11–2 overall record and finished tied for second in the Big Ten East Division, with a 7–2 conference record. They finished ranked eighth nationally in the AP and

Coaches Poll The Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has been known officiall ...

after a 35–28 win over

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in the

. This marked the school's first time finishing in the top eight in back-to-back seasons since 1993 and 1994. On December 31, 2017, a day after the Fiesta Bowl victory, Junior running back

Saquon Barkley Saquon Barkley ( ; born February 9, 1997) is an American football running back for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). Prior to entering the NFL in 2018, Barkley played college football at Penn State for three seasons gai ...

announced his intentions to enter the

NFL draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

Offseason

Staff changes

On November 29, 2017, it was announced that offensive coordinator and

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

s coach

Joe Moorhead Joe Moorhead (born November 2, 1973) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at the University of Akron. He was the offensive coordinator at the University of Oregon from 2020 to 2021, and the head coach at ...

was hired to be the head coach for the

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA Division I. Sports sp ...

. Shortly after, it was reported that

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

s coach and

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

coordinator Charles Huff would be joining Moorhead at Mississippi State as his assistant head coach, run game coordinator, and running backs coach. On December 1, 2017, James Franklin announced that

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

s coach Ricky Rahne would replace Moorhead as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.Juliano, Jo
"Penn State hires two football assistants, promotes a third"
''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'', December 1, 2017, retrieved March 22, 2018. It was also announced that former

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

offensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...

coach Tyler Bowen was hired to coach tight ends and consultant Phil Galiano was hired to coordinate special teams and assist with the

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...

. On January 12, 2018, former

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

wide receivers coach David Corley Jr. was hired to the staff as the running backs coach. Corley was hired as the 10th assistant coach because of a new rule change by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

, that expanded staff sizes by one. On January 24, 2018, wide receivers coach Josh Gattis announced that he would be leaving to serve as the co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a me ...

. The next day it was announced that former Florida Gators running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider would be joining Penn State in the same capacity and David Corley Jr. would be coaching the wide receivers. It was also announced that defensive line coach Sean Spencer received the title of associate head coach, a title previously held by defensive coordinator Brent Pry.

Recruiting

The Nittany Lions signed 23 recruits.

2018 NFL Draft

Offseason departures

Returning starters

Offense Defense Special Teams

Position key

Preseason

Award watch lists

Personnel

Roster

Seniors Trace McSorley and Nick Scott, and junior Blake Gillikin were elected by their teammates as captains. Running Back C. J. Holmes is a transfer from Notre Dame. On August 4, 2018, Linebacker Manny Bowen returned to the program after being dismissed near the end of the 2017 season.

Depth chart

''As of August 28, 2018''

Coaching staff

Schedule

Spring game

Regular season

The team hosted two of the three non-conference games against the

Appalachian State Mountaineers The Appalachian State Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, United States. The Mountaineers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and wer ...

(first ever meeting) from the Sun Belt Conference and the

Kent State Golden Flashes The Kent State Golden Flashes are the athletic teams that represent Kent State University. The university fields 19 varsity athletic teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level with football competing in ...

from the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

(MAC). They traveled to the

Pittsburgh Panthers The Pittsburgh Panthers, commonly also referred to as the Pitt Panthers, are the athletic teams representing the University of Pittsburgh, although the term is colloquially used to refer to other aspects of the university such as alumni, facu ...

from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). During the 2018 Nittany Lions season, Penn State faced

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

conference opponents

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and w ...

and

. Their annual homecoming game was played on October 13. The 2018 regular season schedule consisted of 7 home games and 5 away. :Schedule Source:

Game summaries

Appalachian State

at Pittsburgh

Kent State

at Illinois

No. 4 Ohio State

Michigan State

at Indiana

No. 18 Iowa

at No. 5 Michigan

Wisconsin

at Rutgers

Maryland

vs. No. 16 Kentucky (Citrus Bowl)

Rankings

Awards and honors

Players drafted into the NFL

References

{{Penn State Nittany Lions football navbox Penn State Penn State Nittany Lions football seasons

Penn State Nittany Lions football The Penn State Nittany Lions team represents the Pennsylvania State University in college football. The Nittany Lions compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big Ten Conference, which they joined in 1993 af ...