2011 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

2011 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Big Ten Leaders Division co-champion
TicketCity Bowl, L 14–30 vs. Houston
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
DivisionLeaders Division
Record9–4 (6–2 Big Ten)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorGalen Hall (8th season)
Offensive schemeSpread
Defensive coordinatorTom Bradley (12th season)
Co-defensive coordinatorLarry Johnson (interim)
Co-defensive coordinatorRon Vanderlinden (interim)
Base defense4–3
Captains
Home stadiumBeaver Stadium
Seasons
← 2010
2012 →
2011 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
Legends Division
No. 11 Michigan State x   7 – 1     11 – 3  
No. 12 Michigan %   6 – 2     11 – 2  
No. 24 Nebraska   5 – 3     9 – 4  
Iowa   4 – 4     7 – 6  
Northwestern   3 – 5     6 – 7  
Minnesota   2 – 6     3 – 9  
Leaders Division
No. 10 Wisconsin xy$   6 – 2     11 – 3  
Penn State x   6 – 2     9 – 4  
Purdue   4 – 4     7 – 6  
Ohio State   3 – 5     6 – 7  
Illinois   2 – 6     7 – 6  
Indiana   0 – 8     1 – 11  
Championship: Wisconsin 42, Michigan State 39
  • $ – BCS representative as conference champion
  • % – BCS at-large representative
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

The 2011 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by Joe Paterno for the first nine games until he was fired in the wake of the Penn State sex abuse scandal, with defensive coordinator Tom Bradley taking over as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.[1][2] The team played its home games in Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania, US. They were members of the Big Ten Conference in the newly formed Leaders Division. They finished the season 9–4, 6–2 in the Leaders Division to be co–division champions with Wisconsin. Due to their head-to-head loss to Wisconsin, they did not represent the division in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game. They were invited to the TicketCity Bowl where they lost to Houston 14–30.

The team was ranked number one in academic achievement out of the top 25 ranked BCS teams.[3]

  1. ^ "Joe Paterno, Graham Spanier out". ESPN. November 9, 2011. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
  2. ^ "Paterno fired over Penn St. child abuse scandal". CBS News. November 9, 2011. Archived from the original on October 15, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference academics was invoked but never defined (see the help page).