50 free Penn State Football trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Penn State football is a program of plain uniforms and loud traditions: a 106,000-seat stadium that was literally moved across campus, a student section that turned white in 2004 and never looked back, and a nickname, Linebacker U, that a dozen NFL careers have earned. This quiz runs from the disputed 1881 game against Bucknell and the original pink-and-black colors, through Rip Engle, the 1982 and 1986 championships and the 2016 Big Ten title, to the 12-team Playoff run and the 2025 coaching change. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so it works just as well for a tailgate as for a quiet test of how well you really know Happy Valley.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which conference did Penn State join in 1993 after a century as an independent?
Big Ten
The athletics program accepted the invitation in June 1990; football competition began three years later.
Q 02In which two seasons did Penn State win consensus national championships?
1982 and 1986
Both came under Joe Paterno; the 1986 title was sealed with a Fiesta Bowl upset of Miami in which linebacker Shane Conlan was defensive MVP.
Q 03Penn State's first recorded game, in 1881, was against which school?
Bucknell
Penn State won 9–0 in Lewisburg, nine goals to none in what was really American rugby. Bucknell denies the game ever happened.
Q 04Who was Penn State's first head football coach, starting in 1892?
George W. Hoskins
His 17–4–4 record and .760 winning percentage still rank highest in program history; the team had played its first five seasons with no head coach at all.
Q 05What were Penn State's original school colors before blue and white?
Pink and black
A student referendum changed them in 1890. Legend says the originals faded in the sun to navy and near-white, though evidence for that is thin.
Q 06Penn State's mascot, adopted in 1907, is what kind of big cat?
Mountain lion
It is named for the mountain overlooking campus, where eastern mountain lions roamed until the 1880s. An earlier mascot was Old Coaly, a mule that hauled stone for Old Main.
Q 07Student H. D. 'Joe' Mason invented the Nittany Lion in 1904 on a trip to which university?
Princeton
Embarrassed that Penn State had no mascot, he made one up on the spot and declared it would easily beat the Princeton Bengal tiger.
Q 08Which coach was also Penn State's first athletics director and took the team to the 1922 Rose Bowl?
Hugo Bezdek
He coached 12 seasons with a 65–30–11 record and two undefeated years; the Rose Bowl trip ended in a loss.
Q 09From which school did Rip Engle arrive to coach Penn State in 1950?
Brown
He never had a losing season in 16 years, went 104–48–4 and invented a fitness game called Angleball for off-season conditioning.
Q 10What game did Rip Engle develop to keep his players fit in the off-season?
Angleball
His 1959 and 1960 teams won the Liberty Bowl and his 1961 side won the Gator Bowl; he entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 1973.
Q 11How many seasons did Joe Paterno spend as Penn State's head coach?
46
Add 16 more as an assistant and his 62 years at one school are the most of any coach anywhere. He was promoted when Engle retired after 1965.
Q 12How many career wins did Joe Paterno finish with, the most in FBS history?
409
His final record was 409–136–3. The NCAA vacated 112 wins in 2012, dropping him to twelfth, then restored them in January 2015.
Q 13Joe Paterno is the only coach to have won which five bowls during his career?
Rose, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and Cotton
He went 14–5 in those major bowls and made 37 bowl appearances overall, more than any other coach in college football.
Q 21Penn State's 2016 White Out upset of No. 2 Ohio State earned its first AP ranking since which year?
2011
The Lions came in at No. 24 after the win and finished the regular season 10–2, 8–1 in the Big Ten.
Q 22Penn State ended the 2017 season by beating which team 35–28 in the Fiesta Bowl?
Washington
Saquon Barkley's 92-yard touchdown run in that game was his last play as a Nittany Lion before he declared for the NFL draft.
Q 23Who did Penn State beat 53–39 in the Cotton Bowl to finish the 2019 season 11–2?
Memphis
The Tigers were 12–1 American Athletic Conference champions; Penn State's only losses that year were to Minnesota and Ohio State.
Q 14Who became Penn State's interim head coach after Joe Paterno was fired in November 2011?
Tom Bradley
The defensive coordinator finished out the season. The board acted days after the grand jury summary on Jerry Sandusky was released.
Q 15Bill O'Brien came to Penn State in 2012 from which NFL job?
New England Patriots offensive coordinator
He went 8–4 and 7–5 under a postseason ban, then left in January 2014 to coach the Houston Texans.
Q 16How large a fine did the NCAA impose on Penn State football in July 2012?
$60 million
The penalties also included a four-year bowl ban and 112 vacated wins; the ban was lifted in 2014 and the wins restored in 2015.
Q 17James Franklin was hired from which school in January 2014?
Vanderbilt
He became Penn State's first African American head football coach and won a bowl game in his first season.
Q 18Where was Penn State's 2014 Pinstripe Bowl win over Boston College played?
Yankee Stadium
The NCAA lifted the postseason ban in Franklin's first year, and the Lions won in the Bronx on December 27.
Q 19Penn State's 2015 opener was a loss to which in-state team for the first time since 1941?
Temple
The Owls won 27–10. The Lions recovered to go 7–5 in the regular season before losing to Georgia in the TaxSlayer Bowl.
Q 20Whom did Penn State beat in the 2016 Big Ten Championship Game after trailing 28–14?
Wisconsin
The Lions outscored the Badgers 24–3 in the second half in Indianapolis for the program's fourth conference title.
Q 24Penn State's 2020 season began with how many straight losses, a first in program history?
Five
It started with an overtime loss at Indiana on a two-point conversion by Michael Penix Jr. The team rallied to 4–5 and voted to skip a bowl.
Q 25In October 2021 Penn State lost an NCAA-record nine-overtime game 20–18 to whom?
Illinois
The marathon came two weeks after a 23–20 loss at No. 3 Iowa; the Lions finished 7–6 with an Outback Bowl loss to Arkansas.
Q 26Penn State capped its 11–2 2022 season by beating which Pac-12 champion in the Rose Bowl?
Utah
It was the program's first Rose Bowl win since the 1994 team's trip to Pasadena.
Q 27As which seed did Penn State enter the first 12-team College Football Playoff in 2024?
Sixth
After losing the Big Ten title game to Oregon, the Lions beat SMU at home and Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl before losing in the Orange Bowl semifinal.
Q 28Which team ended Penn State's 2024 Playoff run with a late interception in the Orange Bowl?
Notre Dame
The pick in the final minute set up the winning score. Penn State had beaten SMU and Boise State to reach the semifinal.
Q 29James Franklin was fired in 2025 after a loss to which previously winless team?
Northwestern
It followed a defeat at winless UCLA the week before, both as 20-point favorites. He left with a 104–45 record at Penn State.
Q 30Which Iowa State head coach was hired by Penn State in December 2025?
Matt Campbell
Interim coach Terry Smith had finished the 2025 regular season at 6–6 after Franklin's dismissal.