Penn State Defeats Clemson
- © Keystone Sports Extra
- Dec 28, 2025
- 5 min read
Bronx, NY - December 27, 2025: On a snowy and cold afternoon at Yankee Stadium, the Penn State defense held Clemson to forty-three yards on the ground, and placekicker Ryan Barker hit three of three field goals, in leading the Nittany Lions over the Tigers 22-10 in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. It was the program’s 34th postseason win and their 2nd Pinstripe Bowl victory.
The Nittany Lions last played in the Pinstripe Bowl on December 27, 2014 at which time they defeated Boston College 31-30 in overtime. Penn State last faced Clemson in 1988 at the Citrus Bowl which was won by Clemson 35-10. The teams have only met the two times.
As a result of today’s game, Penn State and Clemson both finished the 2025 season at 7-6. The Pinstripe Bowl has been been played at Yankee Stadium since 2010. The game features teams from the Big Ten and ACC Conferences.
Penn State Interim Head Coach Terry Smith said after the game that it was a “tremendous team effort.” Smith thanked a couple players, including senior defensive end Dani Dennis Sutton who had two sacks. Smith said: “he didn’t have to, but he did, play in this game.” Smith’s comment was made in relation to the many players who opted to sit out, as the “opt out” continues to be a sore point with many coaches in the NCAA. Smith also thanked Coach Anthony Poindexter for stepping up and leading the defense, a defense that did an outstanding job.
Penn State and Clemson both entered the game coming off a disappointing and chaotic regular season. Penn State was ranked #2 in preseason polls while Clemson was ranked #4. Both teams indeed saw many players opt out of the bowl game. This led to many new faces from both teams in today’s game.
Penn State started the season very well in easily defeating Nevada, Florida International, and Villanova. They then lost to Oregon 30-24 in overtime and subsequently lost the next five games before finishing the season with three wins against Michigan State, Nebraska, and Rutgers.
Clemson started the season off with a close loss to LSU. They bounced back with a big win against Troy the following week before suffering two straight losses, one against Georgia Tech and one against Syracuse. Clemson as well finished the regular season on a high note, winning their last four games against Florida State, Louisville, Furman, and South Carolina.
In today’s game, Penn State relied on redshirt freshman running back Quinton Martin Jr., one of the new faces, and senior wide-receiver Trebor Pena. Martin, the slashing type back out of Belle Vernon, PA, rushed for 101 yards on 20 carries. It was Martin’s first career 100-yard game. Pena caught 5 passes for 100 yards and a touchdown. Senior Devonte Ross caught 8 passes for 84 yards.
Leading the Penn State offense was redshirt freshman quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer. He completed 23 passes on 34 attempts for 262 yards and two touchdowns. Grunkemeyer stepped into the starting quarterback job on October 18th against Iowa after Drew Allar suffered a broken ankle the week before against Northwestern. Grunkemeyer, as with any backup QB, had to step into a difficult situation. He grew up fast and improved with every game, according to Coach Smith. He had a 66% completion rate his last three wins. Grunkemeyer was a huge factor in today’s win, not only with his play but his leadership as well.
The first half of this game saw both teams struggle on offense. Clemson received the opening kickoff and went four and out after trying a fake punt which left Penn State in excellent field position. The Clemson defense was able to stop Penn State from scoring a touchdown but Barker hit his first field goal from 22 yards out to give the Lions the early lead 3-0.
The teams continued to have spurts moving the ball in the first half but the drives were stopped too often by dropped passes. The temperature was 28 degrees but the wind chill made it feel like it was in the teens.
Clemson hit on a 48-yard field goal by Nolan Hauser with 0:56 seconds left in the half to tie the game. Penn State, however, did not run the clock out as many thought they would, but instead, they worked the clock and moved the ball down the field. This allowed barker to hit a 48-yard field goal to give the Lions the lead with no time left in the first half (6-3).
In the second half, the teams continued with dropped passes, mistakes and/or penalties. But, the defenses due get some credit as both did come up with big plays at the right time. All of the above led to a scoreless third quarter.
Penn State’s Sutton recorded two sacks in the game while Clemson as a team had two sacks in the game. Leading the the Penn State defense overall in tackles was Amare Campbell with 7 solo and Vaboue Toure with 4 solo and 3 assists. Clemson was led on defense by Sammy Brown who had 3 solo tackles and 11 assists.
To open the 4th quarter, Barker hit his third field goal from 43 yards out to give Penn State a 9-3 lead. After a Clemson drive stalled, Penn State went back on offense. On a 3rd and 11, Pena caught a ball over the middle and broke two tackles on his way to a 73-yard pass reception for a touchdown and to give Penn State a 15-3 lead. The two-point conversion failed. Pena took home the game MVP award for his effort.
Clemson had some opportunities in the 4th, but as Head Coach Dabo Swinney said after the game, “the dropped passes killed our drives.” “We had every opportunity to win this game but we didn’t take advantage of those opportunities,” he said.
Clemson would put together a drive in the 4th quarter and after a pass interference call against the Lions, Clemson running back Adam Randall scored on a 2-yard run to make the score 15-10 with over five minutes left in the game.
Penn State answered the Clemson score with a drive of their own, capped off by a 11-yard touchdown reception by tight end Andrew Rappleyea to put Penn State up by two scores 22-10. After Clemson was stopped on a 4th down play, followed by a couple first downs by Penn State, the game ended with Penn State running out the clock.
The most interesting stat of the game, considering the weather, was that there were zero turnovers. Penn State had 397 yards of total offense while Clemson had 236. Clemson was only 5 for 15 on 3rd down conversions.
