1946 Penn State Nittany Lions football team

American college football season

1946 Penn State Nittany Lions football
Conference	Independent
Record	6–2
Head coach	Bob Higgins (17th season)
Captain	Red Moore, Bucky Walters
Home stadium	New Beaver Field
Seasons← 1945 1947 →

1946 Eastern major college football independents records
v t e	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 2 Army		–		9	–	0	–	1
Rutgers		–		7	–	2	–	0
Penn State		–		6	–	2	–	0
Boston College		–		6	–	3	–	0
Holy Cross		–		6	–	4	–	0
NYU		–		5	–	3	–	0
Villanova		–		6	–	4	–	0
Colgate		–		4	–	4	–	0
Syracuse		–		4	–	5	–	0
Pittsburgh		–		3	–	5	–	1
Temple		–		2	–	4	–	2
Merchant Marine		–		4	–	7	–	0
Bucknell		–		3	–	6	–	0
Lafayette		–		2	–	7	–	0
Fordham		–		0	–	7	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll

The 1946 Penn State Nittany Lions football team was an American football team that represented Pennsylvania State University as an independent during the 1946 college football season. In their 17th year under head coach Bob Higgins, the Nittany Lions compiled a 6–2 record and outscored opponents by a total of 192 to 48.

Penn State halfback Maderak was selected by the International News Service as a second-team player on the 1946 All-Eastern football team.

The team voted to cancel a scheduled game against the Miami Hurricanes rather than playing without African American players.

Penn State was ranked at No. 24 in the final Litkenhous Difference by Score System rankings for 1946.

The team played its home games in New Beaver Field in State College, Pennsylvania.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
October 5	Bucknell	New Beaver Field State College, PA	W 48–6	12,401
October 12	at Syracuse	Archbold Stadium Syracuse, NY (rivalry)	W 9–0	10,000
October 19	Michigan State	New Beaver Field State College, PA (rivalry)	L 16–19	20,000
October 26	at Colgate	Colgate Athletic Field Hamilton, NY	W 6–2	13,500
November 2	Fordham	New Beaver Field State College, PA	W 68–0	10,305
November 9	Temple	New Beaver Field State College, PA	W 26–0	13,356
November 16	at Navy	Thompson Stadium Annapolis, MD	W 12–7	22,000
November 23	at Pittsburgh	Pitt Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	L 7–14	50,000
November 29	at Miami (FL)	Burdine Stadium Miami, FL	canceled
Homecoming

The scheduled game against the Miami Hurricanes was cancelled in early November by unanimous vote of the Penn State team. Miami officials felt that Penn State fielding their African American players Wallace Triplett and Dennis Hoggard in Miami could have led to "unfortunate incidents", and the team chose to cancel the game rather than playing without Triplett and Hoggard. Miami reportedly invited Syracuse to replace Penn State. This invitation was promptly declined and rebuked in an editorial in The Daily Orange, titled "No Thanks, Miami".

After the season

Main article: 1947 NFL draft

The 1947 NFL Draft was held on December 16, 1946. The following Nittany Lions were selected.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
7	53	Bill Smyth	Defensive end	Los Angeles Rams
16	140	Jeff Durkota	Fullback	Philadelphia Eagles
26	240	Larry Joe	Back	Chicago Cardinals
30	279	Joe Colone	Back	Washington Redskins

References

"1946 Penn State Nittany Lions Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
"Penn State Yearly Results (1945-1949)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on August 5, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
"Army Has Five On INS East 11". The Daily American. Somerset, Pennsylvania. December 3, 1946. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Football team stood against racism, broke barriers in 1946-47". psu.edu. February 14, 2006. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
Dr. E. E. Litkenhous (December 15, 1946). "Rice Rated Fifth Best, Tennessee 12th by Lit". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. p. B4 – via Newspapers.com.
"State Defeats Bucknell by Big 48-6 Score". Sunday Call-Chronicle. Allentown, Pa. Associated Press. October 6, 1946. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
"State Wins, 9-0, Over Syracuse". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 13, 1946. p. 2S – via Newspapers.com.
"Spartans Nip Lions, 19-16: Michigan State Springs Surprise". The Pittsburgh Press. Associated Press. October 20, 1946. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
"State Wins, 6-2, Against Colgate". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pa. October 27, 1946. p. S2 – via Newspapers.com.
"Nittany Lions Shear Rams' Wool, 68-0". Sunday News. New York, N.Y. Associated Press. November 3, 1946. p. 99 – via Newspapers.com.
Baumgartner, Stan (November 10, 1946). "Penn State Blanks Temple Eleven, 26-0". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pa. p. S1 – via Newspapers.com.
Craig E. Taylor (November 17, 1946). "Navy Eleven Loses To Penn State By 12-To-7 Score: Truman Sees Middies Suffer 7th Setback in Row at Annapolis". The Baltimore Sun. p. 33 – via Newspapers.com.
"Truman Makes Bad Forecast on Navy Game: President's Luck in Football Parallels His Election Guesses". The Baltimore Sun. November 17, 1946. p. 32 – via Newspapers.com.
Chester L. Smith (November 24, 1946). "Panthers Hand Lions 14-7 Defeat: 50,000 See Abraham, Skladany Score for Pitt Win in Finale; Triumph Gives Panthers Three Victories, Five Losses and One Tie for Season". The Pittsburgh Press. p. 23 – via Newspapers.com.
"Penn State-Miami U. Grid Game Is Latest Victim of 'Racial Problem'". The Gazette and Daily. York, Pennsylvania. AP. November 6, 1946. p. 25. Retrieved January 5, 2020 – via Newspapers.com .
"Syracuse Turns Down Miami Offer to Sub for Penn State". The Tribune. Scranton, Pennsylvania. November 13, 1946. p. 17. Retrieved November 29, 2020 – via Newspapers.com .
"1947 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 29, 2020.

v t e Penn State Nittany Lions football
Venues	Old Main lawn (until 1891) Beaver Field (1892–1908) New Beaver Field (1909–1959) Beaver Stadium (1960–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Alabama Maryland Michigan Michigan State Minnesota: Governor's Victory Bell Ohio State Old Ironsides Pittsburgh Syracuse West Virginia
Culture & lore	Nittany Lion "Fight On, State" Penn State Blue Band Uplifting Athletes Joe Paterno statue Something for Joey 1982 Nebraska game Child sex abuse scandal 2016 Ohio State game Paterno White Out 2021 Illinois game
People	Head coaches All-Americans NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1881 1882–1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
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