Matt Campbell put it best: the last week has been a whirlwind.

Penn State football introduced Campbell as its 17th head coach on Monday, making him the talk of the town. However, the program has to switch the flip quickly, folks. Penn State still has a football game to play at the end of the month.

The Nittany Lions will battle the Clemson Tigers in the Pinstripe Bowl at noon on December 27. Terry Smith has a lot on his plate to rally the troops while simultaneously being the bridge between the past and the new era of Penn State football.

One of the challenges Smith faces now and in the coming weeks is opt-outs. Senior defensive tackle Zane Durant became the first Nittany Lion to opt out of the Pinstripe Bowl and declare for the 2026 NFL Draft.

“Zane has meant a lot to what we’ve done defensively here at Penn State. He anchored our defensive line. He’s played tremendous football for us. We’ve gotten great value from Zane,” Smith said on the Pinstripe Bowl’s introductory webinar Tuesday morning. “He chose to move on at this point. We’re super happy, and we’re super proud of him. At this point, he’s the only one that has opted out. We’re just looking forward to putting our best team forward.”

With more almost guaranteed to follow, Smith has to maintain Penn State’s cultural image while dealing with one of the most unique situations in college football currently.

“The process is the same as anything. It’s going to be the next man up. The standard is the result. We’ll field a team that’s going to be ready to compete,” Smith said. “We have our work cut out for us to play against Clemson, but we’re going to put a product out there on the field that’s representative of Penn State. And we’re going to play really hard and really tough, and we’re going to get after it. And then the result will be the result, but the next man up has to deliver their job.”

No matter the difficulty that opt-outs pose to bowl preparation, Smith knew it’d be part of the conversation if Penn State even got to this point. His main mission when he took over for James Franklin was to secure bowl eligibility and salvage a sliver of joy from an otherwise-disastrous season. Smith was never going to turn down this opportunity, no matter the situation, and that’s something that can’t be said for our friends in South Bend, Indiana.

Smith’s efforts at the helm of Penn State football haven’t gone unnoticed. He essentially willed the team into the position it’s in to have a chance to play one more game. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, the winningest head coach in ACC history, spewed nothing but praise for the job Smith has done as the Nittany Lions’ interim boss.

“I’ve got great respect for anybody who gets put in an interim situation. I’ve been there, done that, and that is an incredibly difficult task,” Swinney said. “To all of a sudden, you’re thrust into a completely different role, and have to kind of redefine roles and responsibilities. You wear a lot of different hats. That is not easy. And especially at a place like Penn State, where there’s a lot of people who care and are paying attention to everything that you do.”

No matter what the future holds with Campbell and Penn State’s transformation under the ex-Iowa State boss, Smith has one more chance to lead the Nittany Lions out of the tunnel. Whether or not that’s with the same players as it was against Rutgers in week 14 doesn’t matter to him. The mission remains the same.