The "Disappointment Bowl" Was As Bad As Advertised

In much the same way that a father loves all his children equally, I love all bowl games for what they are.

But if we are being honest, there are certainly some stinkers every bowl season, and I have to call balls and strikes where I can.

The 2025 Pinstripe Bowl definitely fell into the "stinker" category.

I wrote an article not too long ago about the most disappointing college football teams of the 2025 season, and it just so happens the two participants in the Pinstripe Bowl were the top (or bottom) entries on that list.

The Nittany Lions and Tigers were ranked second and fourth, respectively, in this year's preseason AP Poll, yet they stumbled throughout the season and both ended up barely making a bowl game.

It certainly showed in this one, which might as well have been rebranded "The Disappointment Bowl."

The scoreboard looks a little bit prettier than the game may have been, with Penn State outlasting Clemson 22-10.

The game featured several drops from Clemson's wide receivers as well as some special teams gaffes, and in the end, it took until almost three minutes into the fourth quarter for a team to find the end zone.

Social media was buzzing with plenty of people just as disappointed in the Pinstripe Bowl as I was, with several X accounts voicing their displeasure with the product we were given earlier today.

The Pinstripe Bowl offered us the perfect representation of how disappointing the season was for both Clemson and Penn State.

These were two teams that were expected to win their conference and be in the thick of things in the College Football Playoff race.

Instead, they met on a snowy baseball field in the Bronx in late December and gave us an absolute snoozer of a bowl game.

I can't think of a more emblematic way to cap 2025 for either of these fanbases.

Here's hoping 2026 is better for both the Tigers and Nittany Lions, and let's also hope that we don't have to watch another bowl game like that for a very long time.