Penn State’s biggest rivalry wins of the 21st century that made it great to be a Nittany Lion

In some ways, since joining the Big Ten and eventually losing Pitt and West Virginia as annual fixtures on its schedule, Penn State is a team without a rival. Still, as one of the top contenders in the Big Ten for much of the 21st century, the Nittany Lions have built up some animosity with both sides of college football’s greatest rivalry. 

Even through an era of the program searching for a true rival, there have been some great rivalry wins that made it feel great to be a Nittany Lion. 

5. 2013: Penn State 43 No. 18 Michigan 40 (4OT)

Penn State’s 7-5 finish in 2013 isn’t the most memorable in program history, but Bill O’Brien’s two-year stretch as the head man in Happy Valley was one of the most important. O’Brien kept the ship from sinking following the Jerry Sandusky scandal and handed the program to James Franklin in 2014 in a much better place than anybody could have expected. 

The 43-40 four-overtime win over Michigan and Devin Gardner is a perfect encapsulation of this era of Penn State football. The program, and this team, just wouldn’t die. A week after suffering its first-ever loss to Indiana (which was significant long before Curt Cignetti turned the Hoosiers into the sport’s most unlikely national champion), the Nittany Lions bounced back with a memorable win over Michigan at Beaver Stadium. Bill Belton ran in the winning touchdown, and Christian Hackenberg finished with 305 yards and three touchdowns. 

4. 2019: No. 7 Penn State 28 No. 16 Michigan 21

The White Out, of course, already had national acclaim by 2019, but the crowd singing Mo Bamba so loudly that Jim Harbaugh had to call a timeout before the first snap of the game further cemented Beaver Stadium’s place as one of the best home-field advantages in college football. 

Sean Clifford’s four touchdowns lifted Penn State to its second-straight top-25 victory and a 7-0 start. Two weeks later, however, the Nittany Lions suffered their first loss of the year at Minnesota and later fell to Ohio State in a top-10 matchup before beating Memphis in the Cotton Bowl. 

3. 2018: No. 13 Penn State 51 Pitt 6

Penn State went 3-1 during the four-year revival of its biggest rivalry from 2016-19. The loss in 2016 ultimately kept the resurgent Nittany Lions out of the College Football Playoff. A 33-14 win in Happy Valley in 2017 served as a measure of revenge, but it still wasn’t as sweet as watching Trace McSorley and Penn State roll into Heinz Field and stomp Pitt. 

The 2018 team didn’t quite live up to expectations, but it quieted Pitt fans' desperate calls to renew the rivalry, at least for a little while. 

2. 2005: No. 16 Penn State 17 No. 6 Ohio State 10

Even Joe Paterno presided over some tough stretches in Happy Valley. The worst came at the turn of the century as Penn State submitted four losing seasons across the first five years of the 2000s. Then, in 2005, dual-threat QB Michael Robinson and a defense led by Paul Posluszny and Tamba Hali dragged the program back to national title contention. 

For anyone skeptical about the freshly ranked Nittany Lions, a Week 6 upset of No. 6 Ohio State solidified that Penn State was for real. Hali sealed it with a miraculous sack of Troy Smith, and despite a loss to Michigan the very next week, Penn State rolled to an 11-win season capped off with an Orange Bowl win over Florida State. 

1. 2016: Penn State 24 No. 2 Ohio State 21 (Block Six)

It felt like something was building for James Franklin in 2016. It crescendoed the very moment Marcus Allen broke through the line to block Tyler Durbin’s 34-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter at Beaver Stadium, and Grant Haley picked it up to return it 60 yards the other way for the game-winning touchdown. 

In the end, Ohio State got the nod in the CFP over Penn State, and the Nittany Lions came up short in the Rose Bowl, but the Block Six led to the program’s first Big Ten Title since 2008 and first outright conference championship since 1994.

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