This is the 18th time Penn State has played in a game in which both teams are ranked in the top five of the AP poll. The Nittany Lions are just 6-10-1 in such games, with the only one in the 21st century being a 23-20 loss at Iowa in 2021 (neither team ended up finishing in the top 20).
It’s only the sixth AP top-five matchup at Beaver Stadium, joining:
- 1999: No. 3 Penn State 41, No. 4 Arizona 7
- 1997: No. 4 Michigan 34, No. 2 Penn State 8
- 1982: No. 2 Penn State 19, No. 5 Pitt 10
- 1980: No. 4 Pitt 14, No. 5 Penn State 9
- 1978: No. 2 Penn State 27, No. 5 Maryland 3
The 1999 Arizona game was a Pigskin Classic season opener in August that lost steam throughout the season, as Arizona finished 6-6 and Penn State went 0-3 in November after a 9-0 start.
The 1997 game against Michigan was arguably the most hyped as part of “Judgment Day” in college football in which two top-five matchups — Michigan over Penn State and Florida State over North Carolina — happened on the same day, with both turning out to be blowouts. No. 1 Nebraska’s “Flea Kicker” win over Missouri overshadowed both.
The 1982 win over Pitt led Penn State to the Sugar Bowl, where it won its first national title; the 1978 win over Maryland also helped send Penn State to the Sugar Bowl, where it just missed the national title.
Of course, other games in the mix proved consequential, from Penn State’s surprise win over No. 2 Ohio State in 2016 to a breakthrough 17-10 win against No. 6 Ohio State in 2005 to a 31-27 win over Ohio State in a top-10 matchup in 1997 to perhaps the greatest game in the history of the stadium, a dramatic 27-24 win over No. 2 Nebraska that started the Nittany Lions on their national title path.
Saturday’s game against Ohio State may not have do-or-die stakes in the new 12-team Playoff era, but given Penn State’s lack of big-game success in recent years — it had 10 top-five wins from 1978-1986 and has a total of four since then — there’s little doubt it stacks up there as among games with the most substantial big-game feeling in Beaver Stadium history, even if it’s not quite at the top.