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The Penn State Nittany Lions face the Clemson Tigers in the Pinstripe Bowl Saturday at 12pm ET. Both teams began the season with championship aspirations, but both programs’ seasons quickly fell apart.
Penn State vs. Clemson will be televised on ABC and streams live DIRECTV (Free Trial).
What: College Football, Pinstripe Bowl
WHO: Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Clemson Tigers
When: Saturday, December 27, 2025
Where: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
TV: ABC
Live Streams: DIRECTV (Free Trial), fuboTV (free trial), Sling
Here’s a recent college football story via the Associated Press:
NEW YORK (AP) — Clemson and Penn State were among the top four seeds in the College Football Playoff 12 in preseason predictions and in favorable position for the national championship.
Very little went as expected, and instead of a prominent playoff matchup, Clemson and Penn State will end their season in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, a day after a snowstorm is forecast for the New York area.
In the preseason AP Top 25 released on August 11, Penn State was ranked No. 2, while Clemson was No. 4. By the end of October, both teams were ranked and faced the possibility of not even being bowl eligible.
Clemson (7-5) is off to a 1-3 start in a 24-21 loss to Georgia Tech on Sept. 13 when it was fouled on a 55-yard field goal as time expired. The Tigers went 3-5 after a 46-45 loss to Duke on Nov. 1 before winning four straight, including a 20-19 victory at then-No. 19-Louisville on Nov. 14.
“It was fun to see them have some fun and be able to finish the season with a four-game winning streak and we were 3-5 at the time,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said Friday. “What a great turnaround for this group.
Penn State (6-6) won its first three games over Nevada, Florida International and Villanova by a combined margin of 132-17 to maintain its No. 2 seed. Once Big Ten Conference play began, the Nittany Lions began to stumble and it cost coach James Franklin his job.
The Nittany Lions were still a top-10 team when they started against Northwestern, but their 22-21 loss on Oct. 11 knocked them off the rankings and led to Franklin’s firing less than 24 hours later.
Franklin’s final game was part of a five-game losing streak that culminated in losses to Ohio State and Indiana. Penn State finished the regular season with three straight wins under interim coach Terry Smith and hired Matt Campbell out of Iowa State.
“Finish writing the script for the 2025 season,” Smith said Friday. “Six games ago we set a vision to write the chapter the way we want to write it, and we still have that opportunity and we want to write this final script for it.”
Klubnik’s professional audition
Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik was considered the preseason Heisman Trophy favorite after finishing with 3,639 passing yards and 36 touchdowns in 2024.
Those numbers dropped to 2,750 yards and 16 TDs in 2025, but Klubnik produced a career-high 66.6% completion rate.
Klubnik had two passes for 300 yards this season after finishing with four last season. He’s also been dealing with a sprained ankle that kept him out of the game against SMU, and his mobility has been limited by a quad injury in recent weeks.
Klubnik is also dealing with a thumb injury but will play through it in hopes of getting a win in his final game.
“I think it’s going to be huge and I’m fighting it all the time and I want to really try to get those guys to really come back but also finish well in my career and the guys that finished after this,” Klubnik said last week.
Grunkemeyer auditions for Campbell
Penn State linebacker Ethan Grunkemeyer performed well after Drew Allar was lost for the season with a leg injury in the Northwestern game, and Saturday is a chance to impress Campbell, who will be waiting for the game.
Grunkemeyer had a 69.1% completion rate in his last three games after taking over for Allar.
“I think something that I’m proud of that has improved is just slowing down my feet, slowing down my reads a little bit, just making sure I get everything,” Grunkemeyer said last week.
Can I bet on the game?
Yes, you can bet on the game from your phone in New York State, and we’ve rounded up some of the best introductory offers to help you navigate your first bets from BetMGM, FanDuel, DraftKings, Bet365 and others.
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