Conference Champions
Big Ten Championships—
Penn State was first eligible for the Big Ten title in 1993 and has won or shared the conference championship on 4 occasions (1994, 2005, 2008, 2016). It has won or shared division titles twice (2011, 2016). The Lions have appeared in the Big Ten Championship Game twice (2016, 2024). PSU has represented the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl Game 4 times (1995, 2009, 2017, 2023).
(PSU Big Ten Championship Game results included from 2016 forward/Big Ten Division era ran 2011-2023 seasons)
1994 season 12-0, 8-0 (Outright Champions) Won Rose Bowl over Oregon, 38-20
2005 season 11-1, 7-1 (Tied for First overall with Ohio State) Won Orange Bowl over Florida State, 26-23 (3-OT)
2008 season 11-2, 7-1 (Tied for First overall with Ohio State) Lost Rose Bowl to USC, 38-24
2011 season 9-4, 6-2 (Tied for First in Leaders Division with Wisconsin) Lost TicketCity Bowl to Houston, 30-14
2016 season 11-3, 8-1 (Tied for First in East Division with Ohio State) Won Big Ten Championship Game over Wisconsin, 38-31. Lost Rose Bowl to USC, 52-49
2024 season 13-3, 8-1 (Tied for 2nd overall with Indiana) Lost Big Ten Championship Game to Oregon, 45-37. Seeded 6th in CFP Playoffs—Defeated SMU & Boise State and lost to Notre Dame in Semifinals.
Other Conference Championships—
1891 season 6-2, 4-1 (Champions of PIFA-Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Football Association) In the only year that this league existed, State was, according to the Penn State Free Lance, “awarded the pennant” at a January 9, 1892 meeting by the league edging out 3-1-1 Bucknell (an early arch-rival which had actually beaten Penn State, 12-10). State also had a 2-0 forfeit win over Dickinson because, per the Free Lance, “they failed to show in Altoona as scheduled” on Nov. 26th. Bucknell had tied Dickinson, so all of this probably did not sit well with the folks from Lewisburg, PA. The Penn State yearbook, La Vie 1893, which covered the 1891 football season gushed over the championship season and, for the first time, gave football top billing over the historically older baseball and track programs.
It was State’s final season without a head coach (the State captain was Charles Aull), and the only season in its history to not have any home games. Oddly, despite it being a “championship” season, it is not one of the years honored on the facade of the Beaver Stadium East Suites.