The longest season in Penn State’s storied history stretched from a lightning-delayed Friday night game in Morgantown, W.Va., in late August to a one-possession game in Miami in early January. In between, the Nittany Lions provided some thrilling moments and filled up the record books in the process.

The Nittany Lions set program season highs for games played (16), wins (13), and wins over a three-season stretch (34). They also reached the College Football Playoff for the first time, earning the sixth seed in the first 12-team bracket as an at-large, then defeating SMU at a frigid Beaver Stadium (for head coach James Franklin’s 100th career victory) and Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl (above) before falling to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, the national semifinal. 

There were several superlative individual seasons as well. Tight end Tyler Warren became the first Lion to win the Mackey Award, which is given annually to the nation’s top tight end, and finished seventh in Heisman Trophy voting, the highest Heisman finish for any tight end since 1977.

Warren also picked up the Kwalick-Clark Big Ten Tight End of the Year award and set the program single-season receptions record with 104, seven better than Allen Robinson’s previous record of 97 in 2013.

Warren and defensive end Abdul Carter were the 103rd and 104th first-team All-Americans in team history. Carter, who had 12 sacks and 23.5 tackles for loss, was named the Nagurski-Woodson Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first Nittany Lion to claim that honor since Carl Nassib ’15 Sci in 2015.

Running backs Kaytron Allen (1,108 yards) and Nick Singleton (1,099) became the first duo in Nittany Lion history to both finish a season with over 1,000 yards rushing and just the ninth such tandem in Big Ten history. And offensive lineman Nick Dawkins ’23 H&HD became the first Penn State player to receive the Wuerffel Trophy, which is college football’s top award for community service.