Penn State football just scraped by Rutgers with a 40-36 win on the road to cap off the 2025 regular season and make the Nittany Lions (6-6, 3-6 Big Ten) bowl eligible.
Penn State fans react prematurely as Jim Knowles' defense sparks with gift from Rutgers
Linebacker Amare Campbell provided the game-winning score off a fumble recovery taken back into the end zone 61 yards for a touchdown. That ultimately was the key defensive play that needed to happen for either team to take home the win.
Both defenses allowed their opposing offenses to slide by time and time again. After Campbell's score lit up his defense far too late into the game, Penn State came up with a fourth down stop. Quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer and the Nittany Lion offense started the final drive of the Week 14 matchup with just under four minutes to go.
Utilizing the run game, something interim head coach Terry Smith emphasized to offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki once taking over for the remainder of the season, Penn State tallied four first downs and ran the clock down.
However, Smith had a fourth down decision to make. He let the clock run down to 1:04 before calling a timeout to think about what to do on fourth-and-two at the Rutgers' 10-yard-line.
Smith made the right decision to go for it. Any good head coach would make that call. On top of the decision, the Nittany Lions pieced together a play action pass as the Scarlet Knights anticipated star rusher Kaytron Allen to get the carry. Instead, Grunkemeyer threw it to tight end Andrew Rappleyea. Rappleyea caught the pass and picked up the first down. All Grunkemeyer needed to do was take a knee to end the game.
Everything about the final call was right, and it singlehandedly kept his name in the head coach candidacy list for Penn State.
No matter how well the offense operated or how smart Smith's final call was, it's not enough to hand him the job. Options are slim, so understandably, Smith's name isn't disappearing entirely from the list. However, he is not the clearcut choice. He's not even top three.
Penn State needs a head coach that blows out Rutgers. It should not be in a shootout with the Scarlet Knights by Week 14 by any means. The back-and-forth scoring, even allowing them to take the lead at times, is a red flag that cannot be overlooked.
Smith's resume consists of beating Michigan State, Nebraska, and Rutgers. All three of those teams are in the bottom half of the Big Ten with the Cornhuskers' ranking the highest at 11th. All of them also have losing records in the conference.
Yes, Smith came close to beating Iowa and No. 2 Indiana, but close isn't good enough. Athletic director Pat Kraft seeks a hire who logs those big wins in the book. It's one thing to have a bunch of references from the locker room rallying behind Smith and another to get the job done the way the Nittany Lions want to.
Smith's future role shouldn't be at the helm. He deserves a spot on the staff given the amount of support and how he handled the interim position.
But the future of the program isn't barely winning against the bottom of the Big Ten — at least that's not what Kraft envisions. If he wants to ensure that, Smith isn't his guy.