Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1542734
T he day before his team was set to face Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl, Penn State interim head football coach Terry Smith was asked at a press conference how disap- pointed he was that 16 players would not be participating in the game. Smith had engineered a turnaround in November, leading the Nittany Lions to victories in their last three regular-season games to attain bowl eligibility and extend the campaign. Now, having earned the right to face a fellow college football blue blood in its finale, his team would have to play without a number of significant contributors. The word choice — disappointed — was not his, though, and he was eager to rebut the notion that Penn State was feeling ambivalent about its matchup against the Tigers. "We're not disappointed," Smith said on the eve of the Dec. 27 game at Yankee Stadium in New York. "We have a tre- mendous opportunity to finish this sea- son off the way the last three games have gone. Here's a moment and an opportu- nity for these guys to step forward. "It's the next man up. This is today's college football, and we're adapting and adjusting. We have a game to play tomor- row, and that's all that matters. The result will come from that. We're going to play hard and get after it like we've done the past four or five weeks." For 60 minutes, the Nittany Lions did exactly what their coach predicted. Com- peting without running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton, defensive tackle Zane Durant, safety Zakee Wheat- ley, and offensive linemen Drew Shelton, Olaivavega Ioane, Nick Dawkins and No- lan Rucci, Penn State's available players rose to the occasion. The Lions turned a close game into a comfortable win with a fourth-quarter scoring binge, closing out the Tigers, 22-10, on a chilly afternoon in the Bronx. 2 6 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 6 Finishing Finishing Touches Touches Shorthanded PSU gets the ball to its remaining playmakers in a Pinstripe Bowl win over Clemson NAT E BAU E R | N AT E . B A U E R @ O N 3 . C O M Receiver Trebor Peña had a 73-yard ca tc h - a n d - r u n to u c h d ow n i n t h e fourth quarter to help Penn State pull away from Clemson. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS