Penn State defensive backs coach Terry Smith knew it right away.
Smith was a senior captain on Penn State’s 1991 team, and the receiver from the Pittsburgh area went out a winner.
His 846 yards and eight touchdowns on 55 catches made him one of the better receivers in the country, and as a team, Penn State went 11-2, trounced Tennessee 42-17 in the Fiesta Bowl and finished No. 3 in the country.
Also during that season Smith noticed a true freshman at his position that he knew would be a star.
“I was thankful that I was on my way out the door,” Smith told reporters via Zoom Thursday, “because I knew I couldn’t beat him out.”
That receiver was Bobby Engram.
Engram went on to be a three-time All-American who played 14 seasons in the NFL.
Almost three decades after playing his last college game, Engram is still Penn State’s all-time leading receiver and the only player in school history to win the Biletnikoff Award presented annually to the nation’s top WR.
Engram was the first player to win that award, doing so in 1994.
Speaking of 1994…
Engram won’t be among the members of Penn State’s most recent undefeated team to be honored at Beaver Stadium Saturday between the first and second quarter of Penn State’s game against Illinois.
He’s the receivers coach for the Washington Commanders, who are playing in Phoenix this weekend.
But plenty of Engram’s former classmates will be there, from a recruiting class that Smith says was arguably “the greatest freshman class to ever come into Penn State.”
“You have Kyle Brady and Ki-Jana Carter, Kerry Collins,” Smith said. “I mean, there’s a strong list of guys that all came in. We, as upperclassmen— I was a captain on that team— we all knew what that talent was.”
For Smith, that class was loaded “across the board,” and in 1994, it all came together.
Led by Collins, the quarterback who finished fourth in that year’s Heisman Trophy voting, and Carter, the running back who finished runner-up to Colorado’s Rashaan Salaam, and Brady, a first-team All-American tight end, Penn State averaged nearly 44 points per game and beat its 12 opponents by an average of 26 points.
“They had an amazing 1994 season where they should have been national champions, and then they all had great careers,” Smith said. “So many first-round picks (three), so many all-Americans (five on the first team), so many all-Big Ten conference players (nine on the first team.) They just had an amazing group of young men that did things that we are aspiring to accomplish now.”
PENN STATE: THE DEBATE LIVES ON
“I know they were Big Ten champs, national champs, or something like that. I know there was some controversy at some point with that team.”
Right you are, Drew Allar.
The current Penn State quarterback was correct that the ‘94 team did win the Big Ten and right about there being controversy.
The controversy stemmed from the fact that they were not national champions.
Had the team existed four years later, it would have gotten a chance to play No. 1 Nebraska for the title thanks to the BCS. But in 1994, the voters still decided the champion. Penn State became No. 1 in October when it beat No. 5 Michigan in a legendary game in Ann Arbor.
The next week, Penn State beat an Ohio State team that finished No. 14 by 49.
Yet it moved down in the rankings.
Wait, what?
Well, as Penn State had benefitted from beating a top five team in Michigan, No. 2 did the same by beating No. 3 Colorado.
That put Tom Osborne and Nebraska at No. 1, Joe Paterno and Penn State at No. 2, and nothing Penn State did over its last four games— a closer-than-expected win at Indiana, a comeback at Illinois and two blowouts of Northwestern and Michigan State at Beaver Stadium— would flip the order.
Because there was no BCS, Penn State had no choice but to play No. 12 Oregon in the Rose Bowl while Nebraska played No. 3 Miami in the Orange Bowl. Both teams won, which meant Nebraska stayed No. 1 and won Osborne’s first national title.
30 years later, Penn State fans still feel they were robbed.
Although Penn State’s 1994 team didn’t reach the ultimate goal, one could argue it’s just as beloved as Penn State’s national title teams in 1982 and 1986.
For many, it’s the best PSU team they’ve seen and it’s certainly the best Penn State squad of the Big Ten era.
For Penn State center Nick Dawkins, the game has changed a lot.
But Penn State football is still Penn State football.
‘WE GO OUT THERE TO INFLICT PAIN’
“The one thing that will never change about Penn State football is our standard of play,” he said. “When we go out there, we go out there to inflict pain, we go out there to handle business and do your job for the man next to you. And that’s one thing that will never change, and I hope they’re able to see that, just like how they established it as a standard for us.”
“The game has changed a lot. There’s no doubt about it. But one thing that hasn’t changed is blue collar, tough, hardhat Penn State football. So that’s what I’m hoping they’re able to see when we line it up against Illinois.”
