PSU season snapshot: 1998
A daily series featuring each Penn State football season from 1947-2019:
Year: 1998
Coach: Joe Paterno
Final record: 9-3
Final ranking: AP No. 17, ESPN/USA Today No. 15
Regular-season wins: Southern Miss, Bowling Green, Pitt, Minnesota, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Michigan State
Regular-season losses: Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin
Bowl game: Beat Kentucky, 26-14, in the Outback Bowl
Team stat leaders: Eric McCoo rushed for 822 yards; Kevin Thompson passed for 1,691 yards; Corey Jones caught 27 passes for 368 yards; Travis Forney made 20 of 29 field goal attemps; Brandon Short had 67 tackles; Courtney Brown had 11.5 sacks; David Macklin intercepted 6 passes
All-American: LB LaVar Arrington
Neil Rudel’s take: The road wasn’t kind as three losses — at Ohio State, at Michigan, at Wisconsin — produced just one touchdown and a cumulative score of 79-12. Beating Kentucky in the Outback Bowl produced a hollow 9-3 record. LaVar Arrington’s “LaVar Leap” took place when he timed his jump and flew over the Illinois line to make a spectacular tackle. Joe Paterno won his 300th game, becoming the sixth coach in college football history to reach the milestone and first to amass all the wins at one school.
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