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

Year: 2015

Coach: James Franklin

Final record: 7-6

Final ranking: Not ranked

Regular-season wins: Buffalo, Rutgers, San Diego State, Army, Indiana, Maryland, Illinois

Regular-season losses: Temple, Ohio State, Northwestern, Michigan, Michigan State

Bowl game: Lost to Georgia, 24-17, in the TaxSlayer Bowl

Team stat leaders: Saquon Barkley rushed for 1,076 yards; Christian Hackenberg passed for 2,525 yards and 16 TDs; Chris Godwin caught 69 passes for 1,101 yards; Jason Cabinda had 100 tackles; Carl Nassib had 15.5 sacks

All-American: DE Carl Nassib

Neil Rudel’s take: PSU announced names on the uniforms, in place since 2012 to recognize the players who stayed through the NCAA sanctions and kept the program together, would be removed to return to the school’s 125-year tradition. The Nits opened with a loss to Temple (coached by State College native and ex-Lion player Matt Rhule), then won seven of eight before dropping their last four. After Christian Hackenberg was injured, Trace McSorley came off the bench in the TaxSlayer Bowl with Lions down 24-3 against Georgia and rallied the team back in a 24-17 loss. It was a preview of what he’d achieve the next three seasons. Hackenberg became the first Lion to surpass 8,000 passing yards and Carl Nassib set a season sack record (15.5), which had stood since 1979 (Larry Kubin and shared by Michael Haynes, 2002).