A daily series featuring each Penn State football season from 1947-2019:

Year: 1994

Coach: Joe Paterno

Final record: 12-0

Final ranking: AP No. 2, UPI No. 2, USA Today/CNN No. 2

Regular-season wins: Minnesota, USC, Iowa, Rutgers, Temple, Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana, Illinois, Northwestern, Michigan State

Bowl game: Beat Oregon, 38-20, in the Rose Bowl

Team stat leaders: Ki-Jana Carter rushed for 1,539 yards and 23 TDs; Kerry Collins passed for 2,679 yards and 21 TDs; Bobby Engram caught 52 passes for 1,029 yards and 7 TDs; Brian Gelzheiser had 126 tackles; Willie Smith had 7 sacks; Brian Miller intercepted 4 passes

All-Americans: TE Kyle Brady, RB Ki-Jana Carter, QB Kerry Collins, WR Bobby Engram, OG Jeff Hartings

Neil Rudel’s take: The best offense in school history, the Lions roared to a 12-0 record and won the Big Ten in just their second season. Leading the way were no less than five first-round draft picks (Ki-Jana Carter, Kerry Collins, Kyle Brady in 1995, Jeff Hartings and Andre Johnson in ’96), and every offensive starter played in the NFL. The Lions were scoring so fast and were so dominant that the running joke was Joe Paterno didn’t call a play until midseason. Key victories were at Michigan when Collins hit Bobby Engram with the late game-winning touchdown, a 63-14 thrashing of Ohio State and a 35-31 comeback at Illinois before controlling Oregon to win their first Rose Bowl. A deceiving 35-29 midseason win at Indiana, after backups had been inserted with a 35-14 lead, contributed to a fall to No. 2 behind Nebraska, and, in the days prior to the College Football Playoff, this great team went uncrowned.