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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/Efficient_Jaguar8906 on 2026-01-25 23:06:30+00:00.
Penn State has a total of 13 undefeated seasons yet only have 2 national championships to show for it. This post will analyze why some of these years Penn State wasn’t able to win a national championship and also years where they were awarded a national championship but chose not to claim it.
1911 Penn State: In 1911 Penn State went 8-0-1 and were rewarded a National Championship by the NCF, a NCAA consensus selector. However, Penn State simply refuses to claim this National championship.
1912 Penn State: In 1912 Penn State went and undefeated 8-0-0 and were once again rewarded a national championship by the NCF but refused to claim it.
1968 Penn State: In 1968 Penn State went undefeated 11-0 but lost the national championship to an undefeated Ohio State. The reasoning has to do with the difficulty of both teams schedules. Ohio State had an SOS of 6.54 (number 32) and a SRS of 21.84 (number 2) beating number 1 ranked Purdue, number 16 ranked Michigan State, number 4 ranked Michigan and finally ending the season by beating number 2 ranked USC 27-16 in a 1 vs 2 matchup. Meanwhile Penn State would have an SOS of 3.37 (number 55) and SRS of 3.37 (number 4) both worse than Ohio State, and their lone ranked win would be a close 15-14 win against number 6 Kansas to the end the year.
1969 Penn State: In 1969 Penn State went 11-0 with their 2 notable wins become against number 17 West Virginia where they won 20-0 and against number 6 Missouri where they won 10-3. However they would lose the title to Texas who had a better SOS and SRS while also going undefeated beating number 8 Oklahoma, number 9 Notre Dame and number 2 Arkansas. It also did not help Penn State that President Nixon gave Texas the national championship after beating Arkansas which means Penn State really didn’t have any chance of winning it this year as it would’ve likely gone to Arkansas if they had beaten Texas.
1973 Penn State: In 1973 Penn State were 11-0 before bowl games but missed out on the coaches poll championship to Alabama. Then Alabama decided to play undefeated Notre Dame in a 1 vs 2 game which meant that the AP poll champion was going to be the winner of that game which would be Notre Dame. Thus undefeated Penn State would lose the coaches poll title to Alabama and the AP poll title to Notre Dame.
1994 Penn State: In 1994 Penn State went an undefeated 12-0 and had the nations best SRS and eighth best SOS beating number 14 USC, number 5 Michigan and number 21 Ohio State. However although Nebraska had a lower SRS and lower SOS then Penn State, they got to play a number 3 Miami team in the middle of their dynasty in the orange bowl while the Big 10 made Penn State play number 12 Oregon in the rose bowl. This resulted in voters being more impressed by Nebraska beating a Miami team during Miami’s dynasty and made Penn State lose both the AP and Coaches poll championships to Nebraska.
Conclusion: A lot of people like to argue that Penn State is an overrated program historically due to only having 2 national championships but as you can see, for most of college football’s history winning the national championship wasn’t the only indicator of a great and successful program. And although Penn State doesn’t have as many titles as a LSU or Florida, they’ve certainly been as successful.