6-6.

Who would’ve thought that after Penn State football’s midseason disaster class, the Nittany Lions would be going bowling in 2025?

Terry Smith’s squad clinched bowl eligibility in a 40-36 barnburner in SHI Stadium against Rutgers. After over 1,000 yards of offense combined, Penn State relied on a late defensive score to send the Scarlet Knights packing.

Here’s how each position group fared in Penn State’s season finale.

Quarterbacks: A

Ethan Grunkemeyer registered another quality performance against the Scarlet Knights as he bolstered his case to be Penn State’s starting quarterback going forward. He went 17-for-21 for 209 yards and one touchdown.

Grunkemeyer has steadily improved every week since he’s taken over the starting role. He hasn’t turned the ball over since the Indiana game and has done a great job managing games and being patient for chunk plays. In the last two games, Grunkemeyer completed 28-for-33 passing, good for an 85% completion percentage.

Grunkemeyer said postgame that he wants to sit down with whoever Penn State hires as its next head coach to analyze his future. Whoever that may be, the redshirt freshman has proved that he can handle the challenge, and he’s looking forward to the Nittany Lions’ bowl game opportunity.

Running Backs: A+++

The Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton show. Again.

Allen rushed for a career-high 226 yards, averaging 10.3 (!) yards per rush. Absolutely mental numbers from Fatman. He added one touchdown on the ground and 12 yards on the receiving end.

Singleton broke Penn State’s all-time rushing touchdown, total touchdown, and all-purpose yards records against the Scarlet Knights. He rushed nine times for 86 yards and two touchdowns with 23 receiving yards.

Both backs broke Penn State records in back-to-back weeks. Even though the season played out in a way nobody expected, they cemented their spots as Penn State legends. And that stands taller than anything else.

Wide Receivers: A-

Grunkemeyer to Trebor Peña. Where have we heard this before?

Peña flashed once more as Grunkemeyer’s favorite target. While most of his targets and receptions came on screen passes, he still reeled in four balls for 36 yards.

Devonte Ross caught two passes for 29 yards. Kyron Hudson absorbed one pass for 23 yards, marking back-to-back weeks with one catch over 20 yards.

The best wide receiver play of the day, however, didn’t even come on a reception.

Freshman Koby Howard made a critical block down the sideline on Grunkemeyer’s 4th-and-1 touchdown pass to Andrew Rappleyea in the first quarter. Howard was met with a lot of love on the sideline after the play.

RAPP TO THE CRIBpic.twitter.com/Fd5YmvkEh5

— Onward State (@OnwardState) November 29, 2025

And to think James Franklin wasn’t playing Howard because of his lackluster blocking earlier in the season. Sure seems like he’s been working on it.

Tight Ends: A-

Andrew Rappleyea had his best showing of the year against the Scarlet Knights after scoring his first career touchdown against Nebraska a week ago.

The redshirt sophomore caught four passes for 75 yards and scored his second career touchdown with his wide-open first-quarter reception to open Penn State’s account. He was involved consistently throughout the game, generating some key blocks for big runs.

Luke Reynolds caught two passes for 11 yards. Khalil Dinkins did not record any stats. All three did see significant time on the field, but Rappleyea far and away registered one of the unit’s best performances of 2025.

Offensive Line: A

Penn State rushed for 300 yards. That all starts with the boys up front.

Drew Shelton, Nolan Rucci, Nick Dawkins, Anthony Donkoh, and Vega Ioane. The five guys who helped Allen and Singleton break some of Penn State’s biggest records.

Grunkemeyer was sacked once, but was held upright through most of the game. He didn’t register any rushing attempts, signaling his clean pocket on passing plays. He did get banged up a bit in the first half from a big hit, but he was fine the rest of the way.

The offensive line completely transformed itself for a strong finish after extremely high preseason expectations. They need their props just as much as Grunkemeyer, Allen, and Singleton do.

Front Seven: C+

It seemed like Rutgers had the recipe to contain the Nittany Lions’ fierce pass rush in the first half. Penn State unlocked it in the second half.

Amare Campbell had his best game as a Nittany Lion. The North Carolina transfer finished with 14 total tackles, 0.5 sacks, 0.5 tackles-for-loss, and Penn State’s go-ahead scoop and score in the fourth quarter. Campbell said postgame that it was his first scoop and score since middle school or even Pop Warner.

While the late score propelled Penn State to victory, the reason the Nittany Lions found themselves in a shootout was because of Rutgers’ relentless rushing attack. The Nittany Lions had no answer for Rutgers running back Antwan Raymond, who went off for 189 yards and one touchdown on 29 attempts. Most of Rutgers’ momentum came from a big Raymond run, and it seemed like the Scarlet Knights would pull away on Raymond’s back.

Dom DeLuca got one sack. Dani Dennis-Sutton, Yvan Kemajou, and Xavier Gilliam all registered 0.5 to round out Penn State’s three total sacks.

Smith flat-out said postgame that the defense played badly, but they’ll work to get it fixed for the bowl game. Penn State’s rushing defense has been an issue all season, from UCLA to Northwestern to Iowa. The Nittany Lions are lucky that Athan Kaliakmanis gifted the ball for the scoop and score. If that didn’t happen, another horrid performance from Penn State’s run defense would’ve been the nail in the coffin on a disaster of a season.

Secondary: C

Kaliakmanis dotted up Penn State’s secondary all day. He threw for 338 yards and three touchdowns on 16-for-22 passing. Not ideal, especially with Raymond rushing at the rate that he was.

A lot of Rutgers’ big plays came while Penn State sent a safety off the edge to blitz, predominantly King Mack. Audavion Collins was also exposed on KJ Duff’s stellar one-handed grab in the fourth quarter. It seemed Rutgers saved its best for last, but the Nittany Lions reeled it in and made just the right amount of plays to squeak out the win.

Special Teams: A

Gabe Nwosu punted three times for 141 yards, good for a 47-yard average. He pinned two of those inside Rutgers’ 20-yard line and had a long of 56. Just a stellar season from the redshirt senior.

Singleton got heavily involved in the return game. He fielded four kickoffs for 74 yards. Peña returned one punt for 16 yards.

Ryan Barker made his two field goal attempts and all of his extra points.

Penn State snuffed out Rutgers’ fake field goal attempt in the first quarter that would’ve given the Scarlet Knights major momentum from the jump. That was the only drive in the game’s first six series that didn’t result in a touchdown.