2025 PSU vs. Clemson

Back to 2025 Schedule

PSU 22 Clemson 10

Game Flow & Summary

CLICK HERE FOR FINAL GAME STATS

Game Thirteen

First Half

• This game was the first game after the hiring of Matt Campbell as Penn State’s new head coach on Dec. 8—He would miss the game due to weather-related travel issues—It was Terry Smith’s last chance to shine in his role as interim coach and it was PSU’s last chance to salvage a winning record from what had been a train wreck of a season—17 Nittany Lion players opted out of the bowl to focus on the NFL Draft or because they planned to enter the Transfer Portal on Jan. 2 (two others missed the game with injuries)—It was the first game without the record-setting running duo of Nick Singleton & Kaytron Allen since the 2022 Outback Bowl—The assistant coaching staff was shorthanded due to some departing for new jobs—Ethan Grunkemeyer in what would prove to be his final start for the Lions led his patchwork group of starters and back-ups to a win in what was easily their best overall performance of the season

• The 2025 Pinstripe Bowl was basically the battle between the two most disappointing teams in the country—Penn State & Clemson—It’s a matchup that was supposed to take place in the playoffs—Drew Allar vs. Cade Klubnik (the quarterback darlings of the recruiting class of ‘22)—Both sides were pre-season top 5’s with high expectations that proved to be too weighty, leaving the two schools unranked and barely above .500

• It was a cold, gray day in the Bronx—Snow had fallen in the city the night before—4.3 inches to be precise—Game time temps were 27 degrees with a feels-like of 17 and flurries continued past kickoff—The bands were not permitted to march—Officially, the Yankees called it a “sellout” but there were many, many empty seats—Clemson was favored by a field goal

• PSU wore its “Generations of Greatness” uniforms with bowl logo patches on their blue jerseys and bowl stickers on the back of their helmets—Starting safety King Mack caused some confusion for the Yankee Stadium public address announcer by switching his jersey number to ‘9’ giving portal-bound Elliot Washington some free “pub”—Tyler Duzansky called “tails” and the Nittany Lions won the coin toss and deferred to the 2nd half—Gabe Nwosu kicks off—Touchback gives Clemson the ball at its 25

• 1st quarter begins—Clemson 1st possession would not go well—4 plays, 7 yards ending in a disaster, of sorts—A 6-yard completed pass by Cade Klubnik got the Tigers out to the 32, but a dropped pass on 3rd and 3 made it 4th and 3, and coach Dabo Swinney opted for the fake punt—And, this was a textbook example of why your punter is not your best passer—Jack Smith is looking for safety Ronan Hanafin around midfield, but the ball is effectively thrown to no one and PSU takes over on downs at the Clemson 32

• Penn State 1st possession begins with excellent field position but only results in 3 points—PSU will hold the ball for 10 plays and only net 27 yards—Ethan Grunkemeyer QB gets things going with an 8-yard completion to Devonte Ross WR to the Clemson 24—On 2nd and 2, Grunk hits Trebor Pena WR with pass out to the right side for no gain, but Kyron Hudson WR is injured blocking on the play (he would not return/would later be seen on sidelines with wrap on his knee)—Grunk gets the first down on a 5-yard run to the 19—Corey Smith RB makes his starting debut with 3 straight carries of 7, 2, and 6 yards to set up a 1st and goal at the Clemson 4 yard line—Quinton Martin RB checks in and gets nothing—Smith returns and gets to the 2, but his next carry loses 3 and PSU is looking at 4th and goal from the 5—Ryan Barker and the field goal unit come out and Barker is good from 22 yards—Penn State takes the early lead, 3-0 with 8:32 to go in the 1st period

• Clemson 2nd possession begins at its 25 after the fair catch of the Nwosu kick at the 2-yard line—The Tigers possession brief and netted only 9 yards—A 3 and out ending with a punt this time—Two short passes by Klubnik pushed the ball out to the 33—On 3rd and 2, Dani Dennis-Sutton and Audavion Collins made the stop and forced the punt—Smith’s punt is only 35 yards and Trebor Pena makes the fair catch at the PSU 31

• Penn State 2nd possession opens at its 31 but is off the field in 3 plays that only delivered 6 yards—On 1st down, Grunkemeyer is sacked for a loss of 10 back to the 21—On 2nd and 20, Grunk hits Andrew Rappleyea TE down the right side around the 45 for what looks like a 30-yard gain to the Clemson 49, but an illegal shift penalty erases all of it—On 2nd and 25 at the 16, Grunk’s pass to Quinton Martin is dropped—On 3rd and 25, Martin atones with a 21-yard pickup to the 37 yard line, but he’s four yards short and PSU is forced to punt—Gabe Nwosu puts a boot into the ball which bounces and rolls inside the 15 to the Clemson 13—a 50-yarder

• Clemson 3rd possession will be its longest of the quarter—8 plays, 23 yards ending in another punt—The Tigers do pick up their first two first downs of the game on this drive—But, 3 straight incomplete passes by Klubnik sends the offense back to the bench—On 3rd and 10 at the Clemson 36, Keon Wylie LB applies the pressure to Klubnik and Jahmir Joseph CB breaks it up forcing a punt—With Trebor Pena deep, Jack Smith’s punt is short again—A 28-yarder that dies at the PSU 36

• Penn State 3rd possession begins with 1:33 left on the clock and will carry into the 2nd period—It covers only 18 yards over 6 plays and ends with a turnover on downs—On 1st down, Liam Clifford WR picks up 2 yards on an end-around—Quinton Martin then picks up 9 yards and the first down out to the 47—Grunkemeyer closes the period with a rush for no gain—Penn State leads 3-0 after the 1st quarter—2nd quarter begins—On 2nd and 10 from the PSU 47, Grunk passes left on the screen to Devonte Ross for a 4-yard gain to the Clemson 49—On 3rd down, Corey Smith can only get 2 yards to the 47 bringing up 4th down—Terry Smith decides to gamble a bit and goes for it on 4th and 4—Grunk’s pass is complete to Rappleyea but he slips and only gets a yard and the Lions turn the ball over on downs at the Clemson 46

• Clemson 4th possession lasts only 3 plays and actually loses 10 yards in the process—On 1st down, Yvan Kemajou DE pressures Klubnik into an incomplete pass—The Tigers then pick up 5 yards on a short completion to the PSU 49—Then on 3rd down and 5, Klubnik drops to pass but no one is open and Dani Dennis-Sutton DE sacks him for a 15-yard loss back to the Clemson 36—Jack Smith punts to Trebor Pena who is taken down for no return at the PSU 21

• Penn State 4th possession will cover 9 yards in 5 plays and end with a punt—On 1st down, Penn State goes deep down the middle for Devonte Ross, but Grunk’s pass falls incomplete at the Clemson 35—On 2nd and 10, Grunk hits Trebor Pena out to the left for the 13-yard gain to the 34—Next is a complete pass to Quinton Martin 9 yards behind the line of scrimmage which results in a 4 yard loss at the 30—On 2nd and 14, Grunk throws over the middle to a wide open Devonte Ross at the 49, but it’s dropped—The 3rd and 14 pass is complete to Rappleyea at the 30 for no gain forcing the punt—Nwosu delivers a 48-yard punt which results in a fair catch at the Clemson 22

• Clemson 5th possession will cover 63 yards in 10 plays and result in a scoring opportunity for the Tigers—Clemson quickly collects 17 yards on three runs—The key play comes on 2nd and 14 at the Clemson 41 after a 4-yard loss on a running play—Klubnik scrambles before finally throwing short left to TJ Moore WR who picks up 44 yards on the play before being forced out of bounds at the PSU 15 (some vocal concerns from PSU fans following this play—did Klubnik cross the line of scrimmage before passing?—play stands)—The Clemson drive then stalls—Daryus Dixson CB delivers the nice pass breakup at the 4 yard line on 1st down—A short pass completion gains nothing and a 3rd down throw to the endzone skipped off the ground to the receiver—Nolan Hauser comes on for the 33-yard field goal try which goes wide right—Penn State continues to lead 3-0 with 6:08 to go in the first half

• Penn State 5th possession begins at its own 20 following FG miss—The drive will net 15 yards over 6 plays and end with a punt—The drive opens with two 1-yard runs by Corey Smith—On 3rd and 8 from the 22, Grunk hits Pena for 14 yards and the first down at the 36—The next 3 plays were forgettable—Smith loses a yard—Then it’s Grunk with a bad throw to Koby Howard WR and he follows that by overthrowing Rappleyea—Nwosu then only gets off a 37-yard punt for the fair catch at the Clemson 28

• Clemson 6th possession will run 10 plays for 42 yards and will finally get the Tigers on the scoreboard—Things initially went Penn State’s way—Daryus Dixson breaks up the 1st down pass—Amare Campbell LB leaps and bats down the 2nd pass by Klubnik—Clemson’s third pass of the possession will convert the first down after a 13-yard gain to the 41—Klubnik then moves to the ball into PSU territory with a 13-yard rush to the 46 for another first down—Two more runs get the ball to the PSU 35—After an incomplete pass on 1st down, Klubnik is sacked by Jaylen Harvey DE (his first career sack at PSU) for a loss of 8 yards to the 43 with 1:25 to go in the 2nd period—On 3rd down, a Klubnik pass to the running back gets 13 of the needed 18 yards—It’s 4th and 5 from the 30 with 1:01 to play in the half—PSU calls timeout to preserve some clock—Clemson sets up for a long field goal and then calls timeout to possibly reconsider since they’d already missed a shorter attempt—Finally, Clemson’s Nolan Hauser attempts the 48-yard field goal and it’s good—Clemson ties the game 3-3 with 56 seconds left in the half—The Tigers then kickoff to PSU—King Mack takes the ball at the 4 and returns it 17 yards and slips and falls at the 21

• Penn State 6th possession will close the first half with a field goal—The Nittany Lions will move 48 yards in 10 plays in the final 52 seconds of the quarter—On 1st down, Ethan Grunkemeyer passes short left to Devonte Ross who gets 9 yards before being forced out of bounds to stop the clock—An incomplete pass to Howard who couldn’t hold on after getting drilled sets up 3rd and 1—Quinton Martin then drives up the middle for 14 yards out to the 44—Grunk goes back to Ross for 8 yards and out of bounds at the Clemson 48 to kill the clock again—On 2nd and 2, Grunk is hit from behind with his arm moving forward and the ruling is an incomplete pass—On 3rd and 2 at the 48, Grunk gets the ball to Howard on the right sideline for 15 yards and the first down at the 33—Grunk then overthrows Pena on 1st down—With 13 seconds to go, on 2nd and 10, Grunk gets the pass to Ross but he loses control of the ball as he spins out of bounds—With 9 seconds left, on 3rd and 10 at the Clemson 33, Grunk completes it to Rappleyea at the 31 and he gets out of bounds to give PSU the shot at the field goal—Ryan Barker puts his foot into it from 48 yards away as the clock expires—It’s a low drive, but it’s good and Penn State leads Clemson 6-3 at the half

• First half stats: Ethan Grunkemeyer passing 12 of 21 for 70 yds—Quinton Martin rushing 4 for 44 yds.