Pinstripe Bowl Takeaways: Lions pull away from Clemson for season-ending win

By Greg Pickel

NEW YORK — Penn State and its interim head coach, Terry Smith, have finished a tumultuous 2025 season on a four-game winning streak. The Nittany Lions knocked out Clemson, 22-10, in the Pinstripe Bowl on Saturday at a cold and snowy Yankee Stadium in front of an announced crowd of 41,101 fans.

The win improved Penn State’s final record to 7-6, giving the team its fifth consecutive winning season and its 20th in the past 21 years. It was a turnaround that few people outside the program would have predicted as recently as early November when the team was 3-6 and on the verge of being eliminated from postseason contention.

Our top takeaways from the final game of the season are below.

1. Ryan Barker shines

For the second time in as many appearances in this game, a Penn State kicker was the hero. In 2014, Sam Ficken hit a walk-off PAT in overtime to beat Boston College. This year, Ryan Barker propelled the Lions to victory. The ultra-reliable redshirt sophomore shrugged off the cold, slippery field conditions and converted field goal attempts from 22, 48 and 43 yards to help lead his team to victory. With those makes, Barker finishes 18 of 19 on the year, with his only miss coming on a 53-yard attempt that was blocked in the Florida International game back in September.

With two more years of eligibility remaining, Barker is a must-keep for new head coach Matt Campbell.

2. Ethan Grunkemeyer finishes his seventh game as a starter on a high note

We have no idea if Grunkemeyer will be with Penn State next season. Campbell is certain to add to the Lions’ quarterback room via the transfer portal, and the decisions he makes in the days ahead may force Grunkemeyer to move on. Whatever happens, he certainly put enough on tape during the final seven games of the year to prove he should have a starting role somewhere next season. The redshirt freshman finished the Pinstripe Bowl with 262 passing yards on a 23-of-34 (68 percent) day that included 2 touchdown tosses. He protected the ball well after taking over for Drew Allar, completed a high percentage of his passes, and looked to be in control of the offense. It will be interesting to see how his stay-or-go decision plays out now that the season has concluded.

Overall, the Lions put up 397 yards of total offense and were 11 of 19 on third down despite playing behind a brand new starting offensive line outside of redshirt sophomore right tackle Anthony Donkoh.

4. Clemson’s offense did not show up until it was too late, but the Penn State defense did

In the lead-up to this game, there was a lot of talk about the Tigers having starting quarterback Cade Klubnik back to run their offense. It turned out to be good news for the Penn State defense. Klubnik and his receivers were frequently out of sync. Protection was at times an issue, and the Clemson receiver corps, which was depleted by opt-outs and seemingly affected by cold weather, was plagued by dropped passes.

Coordinator Garrett Riley’s attack had been up and down for most of the regular season, and it was down on this day. The Lions’ defense had something to do with that, of course. Despite missing arguably its best player, redshirt senior safety Zakee Wheatley, interim defensive coordinator Anthony Poindexter’s unit allowed Clemson to convert only 5 of 15 third downs, and the Tigers got points only one of their two red zone opportunities. Clemson finished with just 236 total yards of offense, many of which did not come until the fourth quarter.

5. Odds and ends

— PSU’s backups rose to the occasion. Despite new faces up front on both sides of the ball, in the backfield and in the secondary, the Lions were the better team from start to finish.

— Hats off to senior defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton for shining in his final game. Despite having every reason to opt out, he did not. The Penn State defender played a majority of the game, finishing with 4 tackles and 2 sacks.

— Redshirt freshman running back Quinton Martin Jr. put some promising things for the future on tape. With Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton sitting out the game, Martin carried 20 times for 101 yards, averaging 5.1 yards per attempt in the first extensive action of his career.

— Transfer receivers Trebor Peña and Devonte Ross both had big days in their final game at Penn State. Peña caught 5 passes for 100 yards, including a game-changing 73-yard touchdown strike, while Ross had 8 receptions for 84 yards.