2006 Penn State Nittany Lions football team The 2006 Penn State Nittany Lions football team represented the Pennsylvania State University in the 2006 – 2007 college football season . The team ' s head coach was Joe Paterno . It played its home games at Beaver Stadium in University Park , Pennsylvania . Penn State would later vacate all wins from this season as a result of the Jerry Sandusky Scandal . Previous season . Penn State had unexpected success in 2005 , following two consecutive losing seasons . Beginning the season unranked in any poll , the team finished 11 – 1 and ranked third . With only one loss , the team was Big Ten Co - Champion with Ohio State . Linebacker Paul Posluszny won both the Chuck Bednarik and Dick Butkus Awards , and was a consensus All - America n . Quarterback Michael Robinson finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting . Preseason . The team had key losses due to graduation , including Michael Robinson , Tamba Hali , Alan Zemaitis , Anwar Phillips , Calvin Lowry , and Ethan Kilmer . Paul Posluszny and offensive tackle Levi Brown decided to return to the team for the 2006 season , despite speculation both players would enter the NFL Draft . Posluszny and star receiver Derrick Williams returned from injuries that caused them to miss time in 2005 . Paul Posluszny and Levi Brown were elected co - captains of the football team for 2006 . Posluszny becomes the team ' s first two - time captain since 1969 . Posluszny was also named the 2006 Big Ten and consensus national pre - season Defensive Player of the Year . Penn State was ranked No . 19 in both the AP and Coaches college football preseason polls . Schedule . Penn State did not play Big Ten teams Indiana and Iowa this year . Game notes . September 2 : Akron . Penn State played the Akron Zips in its home opener . Akron was unranked , however the team finished as the 2005 MAC Champions . Anthony Morelli threw a 42 - yard touchdown on his first pass attempt of his first start . Penn State won the game 34 – 16 . Akron kept it respectably close for awhile before Penn State pulled away with a commanding 34 – 9 lead , allowing a late Zips touchdown to once again make it look respectable . September 9 : Notre Dame . Penn State played the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend , Indiana . After a close first quarter , Notre Dame pulled away from the young Penn State squad to win 41 – 17 . September 16 : Youngstown State . Penn State defeated the Youngstown State Penguins by a score of 37 – 3 on September 16 , 2006 at Beaver Stadium . The Youngstown State Penguins were the 150th different team to face Penn State since 1887 , the first year for Penn State football . September 23 : Ohio State . Penn State lost to the number one ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus , Ohio on September 23 , 2006 , by the score of 28 – 6 in a game closer than the final score would indicate . Despite the score , Penn State led in many statistical areas , such as first downs , controlling the clock , and total yards , but only had six points to show for their dominating effort . After a scoreless first half , in which the Nittany Lions messed up a chance to score an early touchdown because fullback Matt Hahn broke loose , but was tackled near the goal line and fumbled before the ball crossed the plane . However , Penn State scored a field goal right before halftime after putting together their second long drive of the first half . Penn State led 3 – 0 at halftime , and controlled the tempo in much of the second half , despite the Buckeyes going up 7 – 3 following a missed Penn State field goal . Early in the fourth quarter , Troy Smith threw the football away , down the field to avoid a sack in a tipped , nearly intercepted , up for grabs pass that happened to be caught for a touchdown by Brian Robiskie . The Nittany Lions , still playing like they were in control of the game , responded with a strong drive that was called back at the 1 yard line for a false start . The Nittany Lions had to settle for a field goal , which helped shift the momentum to the Buckeyes , but Penn State would gain a full head of steam late in the game . The score was 14 – 6 in favor of the Buckeyes and Penn State was driving downfield with less than three minutes left . As Penn State led another potentially scoring drive far down the field , hoping to tie the game up at 14 – 14 , it was intercepted and returned for a touchdown with roughly 2 minutes left on the clock . However , Malcolm Jenkins spiked the ball at the one yard line , which rolled into the endzone untouched . This was only noticed after the game . Antonio Smith returned another interception to clinch the victory with 1 : 07 remaining on the clock , this time from midfield . As ESPN had said , this allowed the Buckeyes to make the victory look easy when , in fact , it was a hard - fought victory , some Penn State fans feel that the Nittany Lions were the better team and should have won that contest , failing to realize that the mistakes that they made , even if it was " handing the game over on a silver platter " , are as much a part of football as any other element , which is why a defense that can force turnovers is so highly regarded . September 30 : Northwestern . Penn State defeated the Northwestern Wildcats 33 – 7 on September 30 , 2006 at Beaver Stadium . Deon Butler set a Penn State record with 216 receiving yards , breaking O . J . McDuffie ' s record of 202 yards set against Boston College in 1992 . Tony Hunt ran for 137 yards and three touchdowns . Anthony Morelli completed 19 - of - 33 passes for 288 yards . October 7 : Minnesota . Penn State defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers 28 – 27 in overtime . Tony Hunt rushed for 144 yards and three touchdowns ( 2 rushing ) , the last in overtime for the game - winning touchdown . Anthony Morelli threw for 281 yards and two touchdowns despite playing with a dislocated ring finger on his left ( non - throwing ) hand . The game , tied at overtime , was decided by two factors , a missed extra point kick , and a pass interference penalty on Penn State ' s drive to give them a fresh set of downs . Both proved critical , as Penn State soon converted the touchdown and kicked the extra point to escape with the win . October 14 : Michigan . Michigan ' s defensive front seven was the story of the game , collecting seven sacks and holding the Nittany Lions to −14 net rushing yards . On a third - quarter pass play , Alan Branch knocked Penn State ' s quarterback Anthony Morelli out of the game with a concussion ; Penn State ' s backup quarterback Daryl Clark was later injured on a rushing attempt . Third - string quarterback Paul Cianciolo managed to throw the Nittany Lions ' only touchdown pass of the game . The game was a homecoming for Pennsylvania native Henne , who played the only game of his career at Penn State . With Manningham not playing due to a knee injury suffered against Michigan State , Arrington and Breaston caught the bulk of Henne ' s passes , each collecting five receptions . Hart picked up his sixth 100 - yard rushing game of the season and scored the winning touchdown October 21 : Illinois . Carried mostly by the play of its defense , Penn State defeated the Illinois Fighting Illini 26 – 12 during homecoming weekend . Strong safety Anthony Scirrotto had two interceptions and returned an attempted onside kick for a touchdown . Punter Jeremy Kapinos was named Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time this season , averaging 45 . 6 yards per punt , with a long of 57 yards . He pinned Illinois inside its own 20 yard line four times . He also surpassed Ralph Giacomarro to become first all - time in career punting yardage ( 9 , 578 ) . Linebacker Paul Posluszny was also named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week , notching a season - high 13 tackles and forced a fumble that was returned for a touchdown . October 28 : Purdue . Penn State ' s low - scoring win on the road against the Boilermakers saw running back Tony Hunt rush 31 times for 142 yards and a touchdown ( along with 2 receptions for 36 yards ) as the Nittany Lions posted a shutout against Purdue , their first ever under head coach Joe Tiller . The low score was primarily a result of the high winds and cold weather . It was Penn State ' s first shutout since a 49 – 0 win over the Northwestern Wildcats in October 2002 . Recording a game - high 12 tackles and an interception , linebacker Dan Connor was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week . November 4 : Wisconsin . Penn State suffered a 13 – 3 loss on the road versus the Wisconsin Badgers . Wisconsin kicker Taylor Mehlhaff put the Badgers on the scoreboard first with a 37 - yard field goal in the first quarter . In the second quarter , Penn State kicker Kevin Kelly tied the score with a 39 - yard field goal , but Badgers quarterback John Stocco countered with 14 - yard touchdown pass to Paul Hubbard . Wisconsin added a 20 - yard field goal in the third quarter . With the long - held ten point lead , the Badgers were the only Big Ten team that Penn State lost to that they had not played completely down to the wire . In both games , they had late chances to win the game , but in this game , again a stubborn defensive struggle , Penn State was unable to kick a second field goal that would have at least made it interesting late . Recording 14 tackles , linebacker Paul Posluszny broke Greg Buttle ' s record for career tackles . Posluszny finished the game with 349 career tackles in a game where Penn State ' s defense did their part to hold Wisconsin to few yardage and points . Penn State head coach Joe Paterno was injured during a sideline collision in the third quarter . Although reluctant to leave the sideline , he was taken to the locker room for evaluation and flown back to Penn State ahead of the team . There it was revealed that Paterno had a pair of fractures to his tibia along with tears of his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments . November 11 : Temple . Running back Tony Hunt had a career day , scoring 4 touchdowns and rushing for 167 yards in two and a half quarters of play , as Penn State shut out the Temple Owls 47 – 0 with coach Joe Paterno absent from the sidelines for the first time since 1977 . Derrick Williams scored on a 75 - yard punt return , while placekicker Kevin Kelly added field goals of 19 and 33 yards . Reserve quarterback Daryll Clark scored on a 4th quarter run . Following the game , Penn State captains Levi Brown and Paul Posluszny visited Paterno at his home to present him with the game ball . The game was the first in Happy Valley for former Nittany Lion tight end Al Golden as Temple head coach . November 18 : Michigan State . 23 seniors helped close out their regular season careers as Nittany Lions by winning the Land Grant Trophy with a 17 – 13 win over the Michigan State Spartans . Coach Joe Paterno , still nursing a broken shinbone , coached from the pressbox . Running back Tony Hunt overcame 2 first quarter fumble s to tally his seventh 100 - yard game this season , rushing for 129 yards on 29 attempts . Quarterback Anthony Morelli , who also had 2 fumbles , finished 17 - of - 37 for 220 yards . January 1 : 2007 Outback Bowl – Tennessee . The 2007 Outback Bowl featured Penn State against the Tennessee Volunteers of the SEC . Penn State last participated in the game in 1999 , when they won over the Kentucky Wildcats by the score of 26 – 14 . Tennessee last played in Tampa in the 1993 Hall of Fame Bowl , defeating the Boston College Eagles 38 – 23 . Before this game , Penn State ' s last game versus Tennessee was the 1994 Florida Citrus Bowl where they crushed the heavily favored Volunteers in an easy 31 – 13 victory . Penn State defeated the favored Tennessee 20 – 10 for Joe Paterno ' s record 22nd bowl win . Tony Hunt led the PSU offense running for 158 yards on 31 carries . Tony Davis returned a fumble 88 yards for the game winning touchdown . First Team All - Big Ten Conference strong safety Anthony Scirrotto also recorded his sixth interception of the season . The key play of the game was a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter . Late in the fourth , Penn State ran down the clock , but despite stalling in the red zone , kicked a field goal that put the game out of reach . Post season . Penn State finished the season ranked number 24 in the final AP college football poll and number 25 in the final USA Today college football poll , earning Penn State its 32nd Top 25 finish under Joe Paterno . The team ' s success helped Penn State finish second in football attendance for the fourth time this decade and in the top four for the 16th consecutive year , averaging 107 , 567 for seven home games , including a crowd of 110 , 007 on October 14 to watch Penn State host Michigan in primetime , the second - largest in Beaver Stadium history . Penn State finished the season with a sellout crowd of 65 , 601 at the Outback Bowl . Five players participated in the NFL Scouting Combine , held February 22 – 27 in Indianapolis , IN : Jay Alford , Levi Brown , Tony Hunt , Paul Posluszny , and Tim Shaw . NFL draft . Five Penn State players were selected in the 2007 NFL Draft .