Seven moderately difficult Penn State football trivia questions

(1) What is the meaning behind the name Beaver Stadium, which is Penn State’s home field?

(2) Joe Paterno’s 200th and 300th victories came against the same opponent. Name the team.

(3) Who was Joe Paterno’s first bowl opponent as head coach?

(4) Who was Penn State’s first thousand-yard rusher in a season?

(5) Who was Penn State’s first All-American at linebacker?

(6) In the 1974 NFL Draft, Heisman Trophy winner John Cappelletti of Penn State was a first-round pick, but he was not the first player drafted from his own fraternity house. Who was that Nittany Lion taken earlier in the first round?

(7) What Penn State alumnus won a Super Bowl as a starting quarterback?

ANSWERS

(1) From Penn State’s website: “The stadium is named in honor of James A. Beaver. A lawyer in nearby Bellefonte at the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army as a second lieutenant and rose to the rank of brigadier general prior to his discharge in 1864. Beaver, who died in 1914, served as a superior court judge, governor of Pennsylvania and president of the university’s Board of Trustees. He is credited with being among the most influential leaders in the development of the university at the turn of the century.”

(2) Penn State beat Bowling Green in 1987 for Paterno’s 200th victory. Bowling Green also was his 300th victim in 1998. Those are the only two times that Penn State has faced Bowling Green.

(3) Paterno and Penn State tied Florida State, 17-17, in the Dec. 30, 1967, Gator Bowl.

(4) Reading native and future pro football Hall of Fame member Lenny Moore rushed for 1,082 yards in 1954 for Penn State.

(5) Dennis Onkotz, a Northampton native, was Penn State’s first All-American linebacker, in 1968. He repeated as All-American in 1969.

(6) All-American linebacker Ed O’Neil was the first Nittany Lion selected in the 1974 NFL Draft. O’Neil and Heisman winner Cappelletti were members of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity on the Penn State campus. O’Neil was selected eighth by Detroit, while Cappelletti was taken 11th by the Los Angeles Rams.

(7) Jeff Hostetler, who lettered at quarterback in 1980 for Penn State, guided the New York Giants to the 1991 Super Bowl title following the 1990 regular season. Hostetler transferred from Penn State to West Virginia after the 1980 season and had a highly successful two years there before going on to the NFL. (As we have noted in the past, an alumnus need only to attend a school, not necessarily graduate from it.)