The Forgotten Opponents of Penn State Football
Long before the Nittany Lions became a Big Ten powerhouse, the program chased a schedule that read more like a patchwork of local clubs, preparatory schools and even a library athletic association. The first recorded contest in 1881 pitted Penn State against the University of Lewisburg, an institution that later renamed itself Bucknell and now disputes the matchup's existence.
Early encounters with the Altoona Athletic Association produced two shutout victories, 68‑0 in 1890 and 34‑0 in 1907, while a later meeting with the Pittsburgh Athletic Club swung both ways, ending in a 16‑0 win in 1892 and a narrow 11‑10 loss three years later.
The Nittany Lions also tested themselves against now‑defunct academies such as Bellefonte Academy, winning two of three meetings, and against Wyoming Seminary, a high school that handed Penn State a 40‑0 defeat in 1892. That same year the team faced the Pittsburgh Athletic Club again, this time edging a 16‑0 victory before surrendering a 11‑10 margin in 1895.
Coach John Heisman, later famed for the Heisman Trophy, guided Penn State to a 9‑6 triumph over Oberlin College in 1894, illustrating the program's willingness to schedule even the most unconventional rivals. The following years saw victories over Bloomsburg Normal, a teachers’ school, and a 39‑0 drubbing at the hands of the Homestead Library & Athletic Club, a team composed of college All‑Americans.
High school opponents continued to appear on the schedule, with consecutive wins over Dickinson Seminary in 1902 and 1903 that totaled 87 points, and a razor‑thin 6‑5 loss to Steelton YMCA in 1902. The Nittany Lions also dominated the Jersey Shore Athletic Club in 1904, posting a 30‑0 shutout, and maintained a decade‑long unbeaten streak against Geneva, a college that never managed to score more than a handful of points against them.
The early twentieth century brought encounters with military units such as the Army Ambulance Corps, which Penn State defeated 10‑0 in 1917, and Wissahickon Barracks, against whom they settled for a 6‑6 tie in 1918. Later, in 1932, the team traveled to face Sewanee: The University of the South, securing an 18‑6 road victory, and in 1935 they blanked Western Maryland, a national champion in the making, by a 2‑0 score.
These eclectic matchups illustrate how Penn State's formative years were defined less by conference affiliation and more by a willingness to test themselves against any opponent that could field a team, from library clubs to high school squads, from military units to distant colleges in the South.