Penn State's Terry Smith Using a 'Next Man Up' Mentality Ahead of Clemson Matchup

While the Clemson Tigers will see plenty of turmoil ahead of the Pinstripe Bowl later this week, perhaps their opponent has even more change coming: the Penn State Nittany Lions.

The preseason No. 2 team in the AP Poll will see a new head coach, quarterback and plenty of other players that plan to opt out or transfer before the Dec. 27 matchup. However, interim head coach, Terry Smith, will keep his mentality simple.

It’s the next man up on the depth chart to do the job.

“The process is the same as anything,” Smith said on Dec. 9. “It’s going to be the next man up, the standard is the result, we’ll field a team that’s ready to compete, and, you know, we have our work cut out for us to play against Clemson.”

Smith was the team’s cornerbacks coach, and has been since the 2014 season. That season, the Nittany Lions went to the 2014 Pinstripe Bowl, winning a 31-30 overtime game in the first full season under then-head coach James Franklin.

It’s a game that the interim head coach calls “memorable”, being honored to play in that game 11 years later, but this time as the main guy of a program that he once played for.

Because of Franklin’s firing in October, Smith has been appointed to the interim coach role, and although his spot will be taken by former Iowa State head coach, Matt Campbell, Smith is poised on finishing the season strong with a powerful analogy.

“We used an analogy of going into the pencil sharpener,” Smith said. “You get a pencil, it’s dull, you can’t write with it. You go into the sharpener, you have to give some of yourself to be able to produce a result to be able to write with that pencil, and that’s what we’ve hung our hat on.”

Another invisible string from this game was that Smith, a Penn State wide receiver from 1987-91, played in the Nittany Lions’ first ever contest against Clemson; a 35-10 Tiger win in the Florida Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day, 1988.

Understanding the program, as well as the one that head coach Dabo Swinney has built, Smith has an immense amount of respect for the opposing coach, especially in the way that he has handled the changing college football landscape.

“[I] have so much respect for him and the program that he’s run,” he said. “He does it the right way. We’re in such a volatile time in our game, of how to conduct business, and, you know, he’s one of the ones that has set the standard of how to do it and get it done, so much respect there.”

In a game that’s special for both teams, especially for a Northeast audience for Penn State while a strong Clemson showing is expected to be in the Bronx later this weekend, Smith is excited for his final opportunity as the Nittany Lions’ head coach to be against a “historic” program.

“We have the opportunity to play at a historic venue, Yankee Stadium, like I said,” Smith said. “I played there, or we coached there, prior once before, and it’s a great venue. It’s a great opportunity for our guys.”