I think we underestimate just how awkward this time of year is.
You have to have awkward conversations with your family about what’s new in your life – when there really isn’t that much new. You have to awkwardly be thankful for a pair of pajamas your aunt got you in a size that you haven’t fit in since the fifth grade. You awkwardly act like you’re enjoying the grapefruit pudding your sister-in-law brought.
(For the record – because I know my family is generally the only people who read this – none of this was you and this is all just a hypothetical for literary effect.)
The point I’m trying to make here is that while the holiday season is great and cheery and bright, at other times, it’s very awkward.
And awkwardness also fits what’s happening with Penn State football this holiday season.
It’s an awkward period as the Nittany Lions prepare to take on Clemson in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl inside Yankee Stadium at noon on Saturday.
For starters, a lot of people had this matchup as a season finale back in August – just in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game and not in a game sponsored by an oddly-named lawn mower manufacturer.
But seasons sunk in the early part of the fall in Death and Happy Valley have led to this. A football game that will carry little meaning besides something to do for an afternoon while you scarf down a few more peanut butter blossoms.
Bowls have lost their meaning over the last decade – even bowls that were formerly in the New Year’s Six before they were enveloped by the CFP. But the ones that were outside of the New Year’s Six – like the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl – have to wrestle with awkward. Aside from ones with a strong marketing push to make you buy breakfast pastries, bowls like the Pinstripe Bowl have awkwardly struggled for relevancy as something a part of the football calendar that doesn’t seem to be as enjoyable as it once was.
Does that mean I won’t be sitting in front of a television to watch this game? Absolutely not. Will I still yell into the void of that television over some decision at some point? Absolutely.
But if Penn State loses, it won’t be a crushing defeat in the way that lingers all offseason as the last bowl loss did. And the emotional head-case that I am struggles with that awkwardness.
Compare this version of the Pinstripe Bowl to the last version of the Pinstripe Bowl (sponsored by New Era by the way) that Penn State went to and it’s a night and day difference for what it meant.
Sam Ficken-Derek Jeter will live in Penn State lore forever. A wild overtime win against Boston College meant hope – even if it was a far cry from what occurred in the following years between now and then.
Instead, Penn State will play in one of the secondary bowls for the second time in the NIL era.
But unlike the last time it played in a second-tier bowl (the Reliaquest Bowl after the 2021 season), NIL seems to be a factor in many ways. There are at least five opt-outs that not even some extra NIL money could dissuade. And Penn State has even had a history of players silently opting out – which cost them a win in one of those New Year’s Six bowls back in 2023.
All of that has taken the anticipation for Penn State ending its season out of it – and even that’s awkward. There’s been little buildup – in part because of how close the game is to Christmas. The only thing there has been is a lot of speculation about what is and isn’t going on with the program as it marches into a new era.
That, too, adds to the awkwardness of the borderline forced-to-do-this game that Penn State is playing in right now.
This won’t be Terry Smith’s team next year. There will be – with the transfer portal coming and going in both directions – very little for Penn State to build on into next year. And that doesn’t even include scheme changes. A win on Saturday can’t be spun as some momentum for a next-season storyline, not with virtually every coach (sans Smith) moving on as Matt Campbell and his crew move in.
The lame duck moment that this season has created for Penn State right now is almost over. But still, it’s one that you can’t avoid. Then again, maybe it’s a fitting end to an awkward football season.
Just like how awkward the end of that conversation with your uncle was.
vs 
Time: 12 p.m.
TV: ABC
Announcers: Dave Pasch, Dusty Dvoracek, Taylor McGregor
Radio: Penn State Sports Network
Announcers: Steve Jones, Jack Ham, Brian Tripp
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