2001 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

2001 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	5–6 (4–4 Big Ten)
Head coach	Joe Paterno (36th season)
Offensive coordinator	Fran Ganter (18th season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Tom Bradley (2nd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Beaver Stadium

2001 Big Ten Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 12 Illinois $		7	–	1					10	–	2
No. 20 Michigan		6	–	2					8	–	4
Ohio State		5	–	3					7	–	5
Iowa		4	–	4					7	–	5
Purdue		4	–	4					6	–	6
Penn State		4	–	4					5	–	6
Indiana		4	–	4					5	–	6
Michigan State		3	–	5					7	–	5
Wisconsin		3	–	5					5	–	7
Minnesota		2	–	6					4	–	7
Northwestern		2	–	6					4	–	7
$ – BCS representative as conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 2001 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team's head coach was Joe Paterno. It played its home games at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Schedule

Due to the September 11 attacks, the Virginia game was rescheduled from September 13, to December 1.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 1	8:00 p.m.	No. 2 Miami (FL)*	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ABC	L 7–33	109,313
September 22	12:00 p.m.	Wisconsin	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ABC	L 6–18	107,253
September 29	12:00 p.m.	at Iowa	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	ESPN	L 18–24	69,422
October 6	3:30 p.m.	No. 15 Michigan	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ABC	L 0–20	107,879
October 20	3:30 p.m.	at No. 22 Northwestern	Ryan Field Evanston, IL	ABC	W 38–35	42,512
October 27	12:00 p.m.	Ohio State	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	ESPN	W 29–27	108,327
November 3	12:00 p.m.	Southern Miss*	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ESPN2	W 38–20	106,158
November 10	3:30 p.m.	at No. 15 Illinois	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ABC	L 28–33	70,904
November 17	12:00 p.m.	Indiana	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ESPN Plus	W 28–14	106,527
November 24	3:30 p.m.	at Michigan State	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (rivalry)	ESPN	W 42–37	72,658
December 1	12:00 p.m.	at Virginia*	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA	ESPN	L 14–20	57,005
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Roster

2001 Penn State Nittany Lions football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 3 Chris Ganter Fr QB 4 Matt Senneca  Jr RB 5 Larry Johnson  Jr TE 6 R. J. Luke  Jr QB 7 Zack Mills  Fr RB 8 Eric McCoo Sr WR 11 Tony Johnson So QB 12 Michael Robinson Fr WR 13 Kinta Palmer Fr WR 17 Terrance Phillips Fr WR 19 Gerald Smith  Fr WR 20 Eddie Drummond Sr RB 22 Pete Gilmore  Fr WR 24 Bryant Johnson Jr RB 30 Anthony Butler  Jr WR 28 Anwar Phillips Fr WR 31 Ernie Terrell Fr FB 31 Terrence Glover  So FB 33 Mike Lukac  So RB 34 Omar Easy Sr RB 35 Aric Heffelfinger Fr WR 36 Mike Drenning  Fr FB 39 Paul Jefferson So FB 42 Mick Blosser Sr RB 44 Ricky Upton  So RB 45 Adam Senk Fr WR 48 Munya Maraire Jr G 50 Tyler Lenda  Jr OL 52 Brian Fairchild Fr OL 53 Tommy McHugh Fr G 54 Scott Davis  Fr G 55 Greg Ransom Sr C 56 Geoff Stryker Sr OL 57 Carl Hunt Fr C 59 Eric Rickenbach  Jr C 61 David Costlow  So OL 62 Nick Daise Fr C 63 Joe Iorio Jr OT 64 Matt Schmitt Sr G 66 B. J. Evangelista  Fr G 67 Jonathan Nabavi  So OT 70 Nick Marmo  Fr G 71 Joe Hartings  Sr OT 72 Gus Felder Sr OL 74 Tyler Reed Fr OT 75 Chris McKelvy So OT 76 Damone Jones  So OL 77 E.Z. Smith Fr WR 80 Scott Shirley  So WR 81 Jason Stryker  Fr FB 82 Sean McHugh So WR 83 Ryan Scott  Fr WR 84 Steve Delich  Jr TE 85 John Gilmore  Sr WR 88 Matt Kranchick  So TE 89 Andrew Richardson Fr TE 90 Isaac Smolko Fr TE 91 Mike Pawlikowski  Fr TE 93 Casey Williams  So	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 1 Bruce Branch Sr LB 2 Deryck Toles  So DE 3 Ron Graham Sr S 9 Sam Crenshaw Sr LB 10 Jesse Neumeyer Fr CB 13 Scott Sanden Fr S 15 Yaacov Yisrael  So LB 16 Andy Ryland  So DB 18 Andrew Guman Fr LB 21 Shamar Finney Sr S 23 Shawn Mayer  Jr CB 25 Rich Gardner  So DB 26 Nolan McCready Fr DB 27 Chris Harrell Fr LB 28 Erik Holt  Jr S 28 James Millon  Jr DB 29 Paul Cronin Fr LB 29 Ryan Pinckney  Jr DL 70 Michael Butler  Fr CB 32 Bryan Scott Jr LB 35 Dave Benfatti Sr DB 36 Alan Zemaitis Fr LB 37 LaMar Stewart Fr S 38 Jimi Mitchell  Fr LB 40 T.C. Cosby  Fr LB 41 Tom Williams  Sr DB 43 Adam Taliaferro So DB 44 Marcus Mills Fr CB 45 Tom Humphrey Sr DB 46 Geo Vendemia Fr LB 47 Gino Capone  So DB 48 Ben Lago So LB 49 Dave Jens  So LB 51 Tim Johnson  Fr DE 53 Jason Crosby  Fr LB 58 Dethrell Garcia Fr DL 59 Charles Rush Fr DT 60 Tyler Valoczki  Jr LB 94 Israel Paniagua Jr DT 62 Randy Buck  Jr LB 65 Sam Ruhe So DT 69 Jason Robinson  Fr DT 73 Jimmy Kennedy  Jr DT 78 Erik Noll  Fr DE 80 Scott Paxson Fr DE 81 Michael Haynes  Jr DE 84 Matthew Rice Fr DE 86 Jeremiah Davis  Fr DE 87 John Bronson  Fr DE 92 Lavon Chisley Fr DE 92 T. J. Gholston  Jr LB 94 Derek Wake So DE 96 Bob Jones  Sr DL 97 Greg Bauer Fr DT 98 Anthony Adams  Jr DT 99 Tim Falls  Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 14 David Royer  Jr K 16 Robbie Gould Fr K 19 Mike Savage  So K 33 Matt Huet  Fr P 39 Woody Schmidt Fr K 95 David Kimball So	Head coach Joe Paterno Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: December 11, 2001

Post season

NFL draft

Two Nittany Lions were drafted in the 2002 NFL Draft.

Round	Pick	Overall	Name	Position	Team
4th	9	107	Omar Easy	Fullback	Kansas City Chiefs
6th	24	196	John Gilmore	Tight end	New Orleans Saints