With Penn State’s stunning come-from-behind 35-21 victory over Northwestern at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, Joe Paterno has recorded 400 career victories as head coach at Penn State. Here’s a closer look at some of numbers behind that historic number:
TOTAL GAMES
It took Paterno 535 games – 44.75 seasons – to achieve 400 victories. His record: 400-132-3, a winning percentage of 75.046.
PENN STATE CAREER
During Paterno’s 61-year coaching career (including 16 as an assistant under Rip Engle), the Nittany Lions have had a 504-180-7 record, for a 73.4 winning percentage. Paterno has been on the Penn State coaching staff for 691 of the school’s 1,213 games (60 percent).
Since Paterno’s first year at Penn State (1950), Penn State has had the third-best record by wining percentage nationally. Ohio State (505-155-15) is first, followed by Oklahoma (526-165-12).
Paterno has won 48.9 percent of Penn State’s 817 all-time victories and 37.3 percent of the school’s 357 all-time losses.
ROAD TO 400
The longer Paterno has coached, the longer it has taken him to reach his 100 victory milestones. Here is a breakdown by his four 100-victory blocks.
Win No. 100
Nov. 6, 1976 — 41-20 victory vs. North Carolina State, Beaver Stadium.
122 games
10.75 seasons
121-21-1
Winning percentage for 1-100: 83.9 percent
Win No. 200
Sept. 5, 1987 – 45-19 victory over Bowling Green, Beaver Stadium.
124 games
10.25 seasons
100-23-1
Winning percentage for 101-200: 81.8 percent
Win No. 300
Sept. 12, 1998 – 48-3 victory over Bowling Green, Beaver Stadium.
134 games
11.25 seasons
100-33-1
Winning percentage for 201-300: 75.7 percent
Win No. 400
Nov. 6, 2010 – 35-21 victory over Northwestern on Saturday in Beaver Stadium.
155 games
12.5 seasons
100-55
Winning percentage for 301-400: 64.5 percent
MILESTONE WINS
1 – Sept. 17, 1966 – A 17-15 victory over Maryland in Beaver Stadium. It was Paterno’s first game as head coach and the Lions were led by three safeties by Mike Reid. A sophomore defensive lineman, Reid was making his first start for the Nittany Lions.
124 – Sept. 15, 1979 – This almost came on Jan. 1, 1979 in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, but the Nittany Lions couldn’t punch it in from the 1, and lost the game 14-7 to Alabama and what would have been their first national championship. As it was, the Lions beat Rutgers 45-10 nine months later for No. 124.
162 – Jan. 1, 1983 – Second-ranked Penn State defeated No. 1 Georgia 27-23 in the Sugar Bowl to win the Nittany Lions’ first national championsip.
199 – Jan. 2, 1987 – Penn State defeated Miami 17-14 in a “Duel in the Sun” at the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona to win their second national championship in four seasons, as they intercepted five Hurricane passes.
323 – Oct. 27, 2001 — Penn State started the season 1-4 and it seemed like Paterno would never pass Bear Bryant as major college football’s winningest coach. But quarterback Zack Mills engineered an 18-point comeback, the biggest in Beaver Stadium in Paterno’s career, for a 29-27 victory over Ohio State
AGAINST ASSISTANTS
Paterno has coached 18 games where a former assistant coach of his was on the other sidelines as the opposing head coach. His record is 15-3. Here is a breakdown:
Dick Anderson, Rutgers, 1984-89 – 1-5 against Paterno, with a 21-16 win in 1988.
Ron Dickerson, Temple, 1993-1997 – 0-4 against Paterno, by a combined score 207-45, including a 66-16 blowout in 1995, a 41-0 shutout in 1966 and a 52-10 rout in 1997.
Al Golden, Temple, 2006-present, 0-5 against Paterno, by a combined score of 176-22, with 47-0 and 31-0 shutouts.
George Welch, Navy, 1973-1981, and Virginia, 1982-200., 2-1 against Paterno. Welch’s 1973 Navy squad lost 39-0 to Penn State, but came back the next year to win 7-6. In 1989, Welch’s Virginia team beat the Nittany Lions 14-6.
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