I just watched that entire game for the first time on youTube. I was living in Australia that year and didn't return until just after Christmas. Anyhow, I have to say that Blackledge put on one of the worst performances I've ever seen by a Penn State Quarterback. He was bloody awful that day but more than made up for it in the Sugar Bowl. I was really surprised watching it
PSU v. Pitt 1982
- Thread starter olelion
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I don't know why but your post made me think of this. It's from 1979 and Freddie Jacobs for Pitt apparently didn't know how the coin toss worked. Instead of deferring, he said "we'll kick" thus making the choice and giving PSU the choice for the second half. So, PSU got to receive the kickoff for both halves. The referee was giving him every opportunity to get it right but Jacobs wouldn't go for it. Lance Mehl was obviously entertained. But Pitt won anyway.
Despite their disappointing season, that Pitt team was probably the best team that the 1982 PSU team played, including UGA.
I believe Nebraska went 12-1 in 1982 and may have been the best team Psu played that year.
That Alabama team was a pretty average team that ended up playing in the Liberty Bowl. They weren't close in talent that season to that Pitt team, which had a NFL HOF player as their qb.
Talent wise, that Pitt team probably was better. I believe that they were the preseason #1 ranked team. Their problem was the same as the main problem as the 2025 PSU team: apathy. Also, if that Pitt team had had Jackie Sherrill as their head coach instead of Foge Fazio, that probably would've made a difference with them.
The game was close and then the punt into the back and then it went straight down hill from there.
That Nebraska team had Rozier, Fryar, Rimington, Steinkuhler, and Turner Gil. Regardless of actual talent, as I recall, the 1982 Pitt team didn’t play superior football that whole season and wasn’t close to Nebraska that year. As far as coaching, yes, Fazio wasn’t that good, but Sherrill would not have trumped Osborne in terms of the quality of the opposing head coach. Again, best team implies how the team actually played and not just overall talent. Now if you wanted to argue Pitt was the most talented team that season, then you may have a case.
The 1981 Pitt team was far superior to the 1982 team. 82 was a 9-3 team with internal issues exacerbated by a new coach and the same old booster problems that ran Jackie Sherrill out of town.
From 1979 to 1981, Pitt went 33-3; they were the best and most talented program in the country during those years, and PSU wasn't far behind; that's how good PA football was back then.
Like I said, the 1982 Pitt team and the 2025 PSU team had a lot in common, very little of which was good.
The 1982 Pitt team had Marino, Fralic, Jim Sweeney, Bill Maas, Chris Doleman, Jim Covert, Julius Dawkins, among others.
It was that 79-80 Pitt team with Ricky Jackson and Hugh Green on Defense that were outstanding. Was '77 the snowbowl game where Hostetler stopped Walker Elliot on like the 1/2 yard line?
Their OL was excellent, wasn't Mark May also on that squad. It's why he always hated Penn State.
Yes, the 77 game was the one in which PSU stopped Pitt at the goal line at the very end of the game. My brother, uncle and I were sitting in the corner of the end zone where that stop happened. It was a very cold late November day with snow flurries. Back in the late 70s, winters started very early in Western PA unlike now when winter really doesn't start here until early January and then is over for the most past by the end of February.
In 1981 without 48-14, Pitt would've won the NC.
I remember watching it on TV in Southwest PA. was it the Friday after Thanksgiving or was it Sat?
The 2nd best part, after the win, was watching Bill HIlgrove do the sports on WTAE. It was especially fun after the '81 game.
I believe that the 77 game was on a Saturday. I only was 10 years old then and remember that my uncle, brother and I parked in downtown and took a Pitt Stadium shuttle bus that would drop people off right behind the stadium in the end zone section that was in front of the VA Hospital. After the game, I just remember that we got dinner in downtown after taking a return shuttle bus. I still have the PSU knit hat that I wore to that game with the ball on top.
I was there with my Dad and it was freezing. I remember my toes were so cold. One of my favorite all time Penn State plays occured in that game which was the reverse punt return for a TD, Cefalo to Guman. We were down 7-6 and this put us up 12-6. Huge momentum play. We missed the 2 pt conversion.
Another huge play was Ron Hostetler's pick in the end zone to thwart a Pitt drive. Finally, the stop of their 2 point conversion in the snow. If you listen to Ray Scott's call of the game he says it is Joe D'Ange who made the tackle to deny their 2 point conversion attempt. All the Pitt fans (I think mostly students) were lining the end zone because they rushed the field after their TD. Joe had to have been super annoyed by that. Speaking of Joe, he wore no jacket to this game, just this tan suit. Classic game for the memories in Penn State football lore. I will never forget it.
Yes, the end zone where that happened was at the end of the field where the Pitt students sat. Our seats were in that same end zone but in the opposite corner from the student section.
The 77 and 78 PSU teams only lost one game each season. My family were fans of Chuck Fusina because he went to Sto-Rox and my mother and uncle both went to McKees Rocks HS before it merged with Stowe HS.
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After Pitt scored that TD my heart sank. I was going to be so disappointed if they came back and tied us in the last 10 seconds. Huge stop by our D. Was Sandusky the D Coordinator then?
My dad liked Mickey Shuler a lot. I remember that. I think because he was reliable. He also loved Jimmy Cefalo because he was such a good athlete, very fast.
The loss to Kentucky in '77 was a heartbreaker. 24-20 with the tall UK QB, Derrick Ramsey having a huge day running on a sloppy turf. We win that one then we are undefeated and probably playing for the NC. Although I'm not sure because if any of the traditional powers had two teams undefeated then we were certainly not getting voted ahead of them.
I just looked it up, interestingly the top 6 teams in the final AP poll all had 1 loss.
#1 ND 11-1
#2 Alabama 11-1
#3 Arkansas 11-1
#4 Texas 11-1
#5 Penn State 11-1
#6 Kentucky 10-1
Kentucky was banned from playing in a postseason bowl due to being on probation. So they slipped behind us despite beating us. They lost to Baylor 21-6 early in the season. Baylor only finished 5-6 so that didn't help Kentucky's cause.
Pitt ended up #8 so that was a huge win for us on the road.
Of course, we were the lowest ranked 1 loss team that went to a bowl game. Man did they need a playoff that year and all the years back then.
So many of those late 60s and 70s Paterno teams were disrespected despite the fact that they regularly beat Big 8, SWC and SEC teams in bowl games when bowl games mattered and having several major award winners.
I thought the '77 team was better than the '78 team but then I also thought the '81 team was better than '82.
My favorite PSU teams are ‘81 and 2005.I thought the '77 team was better than the '78 team but then I also thought the '81 team was better than '82.
There's no doubt in my mind that at least one and probably more of those teams between 1968 and 1977 would've won a playoffs if there had been one; I didn't mention the 1978 team because they played in the NC game. Also, the 1981 team arguably was the best team at the end of the season when they beat Pitt and USC.
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IIRC Steve Geise was the only PSU player to score against Pitt for 2 years. I think we went 1-1.
It is unfortunate that the best bowl opponent we got that year was #15 ASU in what was at the time kind of a 2nd tier bowl, the Fiesta Bowl. Why did we not get a shot at Alabama that year in the Sugar Bowl? Ohio State played them and got boat raced 35-6. They were only #9 entering the bowls with a 9-2 record including a Michigan loss. Back then the back room shenanigans and deal making were utterly absurd.
On a side note, of course Michigan who won the Big Ten, loses in Pasadena to UDub on their way to 3 straight Rose Bowl losses and something like 11 out of 13. That is actually hard to do, utter futility. Anyone who attempts to say Schembechler was equal to Paterno in coaching ability has no clue.
You didn’t ask a question, but that is a great question. Who is/are you favorite PSU team?
For me, it is the ‘82 team as I attended the ’83 sugar bowl as a student. Any team with Curt Warner is at the top of the list for me.
Next up is probably 1994. They were so much better than everyone else.
Lastly is 1981. 48-14 is all that needs to be said.
The only thing missing from those late 70s teams was a great tailback. The tailbacks such as Guman were solid but nowhere near a Curt Warner. They had the fullback with Suhey.
And in my humble opinion starting Archie in 95 was a big mistake and hurt the team early. Archie was a good third down scat back but Pitts was much better and let's face it - Enis should have been the starter.
Mine is '82. Bouncing back from that Bama loss to run the table and shut down Herschel Walker and Georgia to win the National Championship.
That game had the #1 play in Penn State football history, the Blackledge to Garrity TD pass. I love listening to the Keith Jackson call. He is finishing up a comment about how we are on a time consuming drive as Blackledge launches the pass. He says ...
"The Lions got a drive going here, a time consuming effort too, but now Blackledge is going to put it up on first down, he's going for the BUNDLE.....Garrity touchdown!
It was so cool because we scored in front of all the Penn State fans. I happened to be there with my parents and will never, ever forget that moment. The place was so loud, everyone went crazy.
At the end it was so satisfying to see Joe get carried off the field on the shoulders of his players after winning his first and very well deserved national championship. He was so happy and proud. Four years earlier he had his most bitter defeat in that same stadium and then to see him come all the way back to win it all was fantastic.
One of the best offensive lines of all time.
Bill Fralic, Jimbo Covert, Jim Sweeney, Ron Sams, Rob Fada. All played in the NFL. I think Fralic, Covert, and Sweeney were all 1st round picks - and I think all from western PA, back when western PA was football heaven. That line could have started from tackle-to-tackle for some NFL teams.
If they had backs anywhere close to what PSU had (Warner, Jon Williams, Coles, etc) they would have never needed to throw the ball.
The PSU RBs were the difference makers in that game. Well, them and Foge Fazio being a nitwit.
Mark May was a few years earlier - as where the DE monsters of Hugh Green and Ricky Jackson
Thank goodness. Those DEs combined with that OL would have been just about an unstoppable combination. I am not sure how many folks remember how talented some of those Pitt teams were. Got more than their share from western PA and eastern Ohio back then - and were well ahead of PSU in going down and getting some really top end guys from down south.
For 10 years, Pitt-PSU was as good as any rivalry anywhere in the country ever was.
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