How a Winter Storm Could Impact Penn State, Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl

Yankee Stadium could see 6-9 inches of snow before kickoff for the Pinstripe Bowl, another challenge for Nittany Lions and Tigers.

A member of the Yankee Stadium grounds crew blows snow off the yard lines before the start of the 2012 Pinstripe Bowl game between the Syracuse Orange and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Yankee Stadium. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Pinstripe Bowl already was dealing with opt outs from Penn State and Clemson that will curb fans' interest. Now, Saturday's game at Yankee Stadium also will deal with weather, namely a winter storm that could make travel challenging and conditions unpleasant for the noon kickoff.

According to AccuWeather, New York is under a winter storm warning from 4 p.m. ET Friday to 1 p.m. Saturday, about an hour after kickoff. The storm could bring 6-9 inches of snow to the Bronx, with the worst conditions expected from 6 p.m. ET Friday until midnight. The U.S. National Weather Service warns fans to expect travel delays into Saturday morning for the game.

AccuWeather projects a 49-percent chance of snow at kickoff, with the temperature to feel like 21 degrees. Snow should be ending at about 1 p.m. ET Saturday. The conditions will make for a challenging conclusion to an already challenging Penn State bowl experience.

The Nittany Lions (6-6) arrived in New York on Dec. 22 with one staff coaching football and another, led by new coach Matt Campbell, focusing on 2026. Because of that, and the six-game losing streak that eliminated it from playoff contention, Penn State expected to miss a healthy bit of its starting lineup.

Interim coach Terry Smith said Friday that Penn State will be without 16 players for the bowl game, including six starters on offense. The offensive line in particular will look quite different, as four starters will not play.

"We're not disappointed," Smith said Friday. "We have a tremendous opportunity to finish this season off the way the last three games have gone, and here's a moment and an opportunity for these guys to step forward. It's the next man up.

"This is today's college football. We're adapting and adjusting, and we have a game to play tomorrow, and that's all that matters, and a result will come from that, and we're going to play hard and get after it like we've done the past four or five weeks."

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Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Terry Smith celebrates from the sideline during the third quarter against the Indiana Hoosiers at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Penn State hasn't played a bitterly cold game since hosting SMU in the College Football Playoff last December at Beaver Stadium, where game-time temperatures were in the teens. But this bowl experience will be quite different, even from Penn State's last visit to New York.

When Penn State played Boston College in the 2014 Pinstripe Bowl, the game-time temperature was in the low 50s. Penn State has been practicing at Fordham University in preparation for the game.

"We practice every day outside in this weather," Smith said. "It's cold, and the guys are adjusting to it. We're all from the North, so cold weather is not really a concern for us."

Clemson, meanwhile, is playing in New York for the first time since 1952, when it tied Fordham 12-12. Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said he has embraced the weather.

"To maybe have a chance to get a football game in the snow, I've never done that," Swinney said. "It would be a really cool experience for our guys. Hey, they're ready to play. They've embraced everything that's come at us, whether it's next-man-up mentality with a lot of the guys injured that are out, to the elements. It's all part of it, and we're excited about it all."

Like Penn State, Clemson (7-5) is dealing with a slimmed-down roster. Swinney said that 27 players, including seven starters, will not be part of the bowl game because of injuries and opt-outs. However, both teams will have their starting quarterbacks in Ethan Grunkemeyer for Penn State and Cade Klubnik for the Tigers.

'Finish writing the script for the '25 season," Smith said about Penn State's goal for Saturday. "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 to it."

Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney celebrates a play against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the fourth quarter at Williams-Brice Stadium. | Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

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