The chill of late December in New York City is set to host an intriguing college football showdown as the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Clemson Tigers prepare to clash in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium. Scheduled for Saturday, December 27, 2025, with kickoff at noon ET, this matchup brings together two storied programs whose seasons have fallen well short of their lofty preseason expectations. If you’d asked any college football fan back in August, the idea of Penn State and Clemson meeting outside the College Football Playoff would have seemed unthinkable. Yet, here they are, both licking their wounds from letdown campaigns but eager for redemption on a national stage.
Penn State enters the bowl game with a 6-6 record, having salvaged bowl eligibility with a late-season surge. The Nittany Lions closed their regular season on a three-game winning streak, capped by a dramatic 40-36 victory over Rutgers on November 29. Running back Kaytron Allen was the hero in that game, racking up a career-best 226 yards on the ground, and finishing the season with an impressive 1,303 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns. Meanwhile, fellow running back Nicholas Singleton etched his name into program history by surpassing Saquon Barkley as Penn State’s all-time leader in career rushing touchdowns. The offense averaged a healthy 31.8 points per game, while the defense allowed 21.4—numbers that reflect a team with balance but not dominance.
But the Nittany Lions’ journey to the Bronx has been anything but smooth. Their season was knocked off course in October when starting quarterback Drew Allar suffered a season-ending injury. Into the breach stepped Ethan Grunkemeyer, a young signal-caller who took a few games to find his rhythm but ultimately stabilized the offense. Grunkemeyer threw for 1,079 yards and six touchdowns in the stretch run, including a solid showing against Indiana and steady leadership during the team’s late push.
Off the field, Penn State has faced turbulence as well. The program parted ways with its head coach midway through the season, leaving an interim staff to guide the team through bowl preparations. Multiple starters, including running back Nicholas Singleton and defensive tackle Zane Durant, have opted out of the bowl game to prepare for the NFL Draft. To make matters worse, the Nittany Lions will be without four of their five starting offensive linemen and several key skill position players, thinning their depth and putting additional pressure on Grunkemeyer and Allen to carry the load.
Despite these hurdles, Penn State remains one of college football’s most experienced bowl programs. The Nittany Lions boast a 33-21-2 all-time bowl record and are no strangers to the big stage, having appeared in last year’s College Football Playoff semifinal at the Orange Bowl. Their fans will hope that tradition and resilience can offset the roster instability and coaching uncertainty swirling around the program.
On the other side, the Clemson Tigers arrive in New York with a 7-5 record, having found their stride late in the season. After a rocky start that saw them lose three of their first four games—despite opening the year ranked No. 6 nationally—Clemson rebounded with four straight wins to close out the regular season. The Tigers capped their turnaround with a decisive 28-14 victory over archrival South Carolina, a game in which they were 2.5-point underdogs. That win not only restored some pride but also extended head coach Dabo Swinney’s remarkable run of postseason appearances to 21 consecutive seasons.
Quarterback Cade Klubnik has had a season of ups and downs, never quite reaching the heights expected of him, but still managing to complete 66.6% of his passes for 2,750 yards and 16 touchdowns, while adding four rushing scores. Running back Adam Randall provided a steady presence with 779 rushing yards and nine touchdowns, complemented by 31 catches for 246 yards and three more scores. The receiving corps, led by T.J. Moore (754 yards, four TDs) and Antonio Williams (604 yards, four TDs), has been productive, though Williams will miss the bowl game due to injury.
Yet, the Tigers are not immune to the attrition that plagues bowl season. Clemson will be without 27 scholarship players, a staggering number, due to a mix of injuries and opt-outs. Most of the absences are on the defensive side, thinning a unit that, despite the losses, has maintained solid overall efficiency. The offensive line remains largely intact, giving Klubnik some security, but the lack of top pass-catchers means the Tigers may need to lean more heavily on their ground game and short passing attack. According to one preview, “Clemson will be down eight total starters, with five of them sitting to prepare for the NFL Draft. That said, Cade Klubnik will be under center for the Tigers, with the majority of his offensive line in place. That’s a big plus in a game like this.”
Interestingly, this is only the second meeting between Penn State and Clemson in their respective histories. The first came in the 1988 Citrus Bowl, a game the Tigers won handily, 35-10. Now, nearly four decades later, both programs are looking to write a new chapter—one defined less by preseason hype and more by grit and adaptability.
As for the matchup itself, analysts see a tight contest, with a slight edge to Clemson due to their more stable coaching situation and quarterback continuity. “I’ll take the more stable team in this matchup. The Penn State Nittany Lions are walking into the bowl with an interim head coach, an unsettled staff, and a quarterback room in disarray since the Drew Allar injury,” one expert noted. The betting odds reflect this narrow margin: Clemson is favored by 2.5 to 3.5 points across various sportsbooks, with the moneyline hovering around -140 for Clemson and +115 for Penn State. The over/under is set at 48.5, with many expecting a lower-scoring, grind-it-out affair.
Penn State’s path to victory likely hinges on their ability to run the ball and control the clock, especially given their depleted offensive line and the likelihood of a conservative game plan. Clemson, meanwhile, will look to exploit Penn State’s run defense, which has allowed a 45.5% success rate this season, and rely on Klubnik’s efficiency to keep drives alive. The Tigers’ “rah, rah culture” under Dabo Swinney has often translated to strong bowl performances, and Swinney will be eyeing his 15th consecutive postseason win.
With both teams missing key players and facing their own sets of challenges, the Pinstripe Bowl promises to be a test of depth, discipline, and desire. Will Penn State’s proud bowl tradition and ground attack be enough to overcome their instability, or will Clemson’s late-season momentum and coaching continuity carry the day?
As kickoff approaches, one thing’s for certain: this isn’t the bowl matchup fans expected in August, but it’s shaping up to be a compelling battle in the Bronx, with both teams eager to end their seasons on a high note. Stay tuned—the action at Yankee Stadium is just getting started.
