It’s game week, folks.

Penn State football will conclude its chaotic, whirlwind of a 2025 season on Saturday, when it travels to Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York, to face off against Clemson in a game that, a few months ago, figured to be a potential matchup in the College Football Playoff.

When the season began in late August, there were national championship aspirations, but those were washed away in a 15-day stretch that will go down in infamy. Alas, there is one more game to play under interim head coach Terry Smith before the Matt Campbell era officially begins.

While many fans might believe that this is just the second time the Nittany Lions have made the trek to New York, a deep dive into the program’s long history reveals seven other games played in New York, with three being played at old Yankee Stadium and four being played across the Harlem River at the Polo Grounds.

October 29, 1921: Penn State 28, Georgia Tech 7 (Polo Grounds)

The first game played in New York by the Nittany Lions was back in 1921, just 16 days after the Polo Grounds hosted Game 8 (yes, you read that right) of the World Series, which saw the New York Giants beat the New York Yankees to win the World Series. Both teams played their home games in the Polo Grounds, as the original Yankee Stadium wouldn’t be built for another two years.

Penn State improved to 5-0-1 with a comfortable win over an undefeated Georgia Tech in front of a crowd of 30,000. Three-sport star Glenn Killinger, who would go on to play both minor league baseball and in the NFL, had two touchdowns, including an 85-yard kick return, as did Joe Lightner.

Penn State would finish 8-0-2, handing the Yellow Jackets their only defeat of the season, as they finished 8-1 and got a share of the SIAA championship.

October 28, 1922: Penn State 0, Syracuse 0 (Polo Grounds)

Less than three weeks after the Yankees got revenge on the Giants in the 1922 World Series to win their first title, the Nittany Lions returned to the Polo Grounds to face Syracuse, whom they battled to a 0-0 draw in front of 20,000 fans. The Orangeman had a strong season, finishing 6-1-2, only losing to Pittsburgh.

Penn State had started the season a dominant 5-0 and had earned an invitation to the end-of-season Rose Bowl five days before the midseason game against Syracuse. Penn State had not lost a game since October 1919, so the Tournament of Roses committee invited them with five games to go, thinking that Penn State wouldn’t slip up.

It turned out to be a severe case of jumping the gun. Penn State finished the regular season 1-3-1, including a 14-0 loss against Pittsburgh, and limped into the Rose Bowl against a dominant USC team, which beat them 14-3 in Pasadena.

October 27, 1923: Penn State 13, West Virginia 13 (Yankee Stadium)

The original Yankee Stadium opened in April 1923 and hosted a World Series winner in its debut season, as the Yankees beat the Giants again less than two weeks before this game.

For the third straight year, but the first in The Bronx, Penn State made the trek to New York City, playing longtime rival West Virginia to a 13-13 draw in front of 30,000 fans. The Nittany Lions and Mountaineers both entered the game 4-0.

Harry Wilson scored an early touchdown for the Nittany Lions, but West Virginia held a 13-7 lead deep into the fourth quarter, thanks to strong play by Nick Nardacci. Wilson tied the game late with his second rushing touchdown, but a missed extra point by Dick Schuster secured a 13-13 tie.

Penn State, which allowed its first touchdown of the season that day, would again stumble to end the season with two losses in its last four games. West Virginia would go 7-1-1, only losing to Washington & Jefferson.

October 10, 1925: Georgia Tech 16, Penn State 7 (Yankee Stadium)

100 years ago, Penn State and Georgia Tech were rivals. From 1921-25, they played four times, once in Atlanta, once in State College, and twice in New York City. The final meeting between the two for 35 years came in Yankee Stadium in early October.

It was the first time in the decade that the city didn’t host a World Series game, but the city did play host to the Nittany Lions, who lost 16-7 on a frigid, windy day in The Bronx for their first loss of the season.

Harold “Dinger” Dangerfield caught an early 18-yard touchdown pass from John Pincura to give Penn State an early lead, but the Yellow Jackets scored 16 unanswered to end the game, as Red Barron and All-American Doug Wycoff ran for touchdowns.

Once again, a loss in New York would torpedo Penn State’s season, as after two wins, it would go 0-3-1 in its last four games. Georgia Tech finished 6-2-1 with losses to Alabama and Notre Dame.

October 19, 1929: NYU 7, Penn State 0 (Yankee Stadium)

In case you haven’t noticed yet, Penn State was a regular in New York City in the 1920s. The fifth and final time the Nittany Lions played in the city in the 1920s, they lost 7-0 in a low-scoring game in front of 30,000. It was the final time they’d ever play in the old Yankee Stadium.

The only score of the game was an early touchdown by Herman La Mark in the first quarter. A New York Times clipping of the game says that the Nittany Lions ran the ball very well, but it never turned into any points. Penn State’s defeat would only be the second-most noteworthy thing to happen in New York that week, as Wall Street dealt with the beginning of the stock market crash just five days later, beginning the Great Depression.

Yankee Stadium would continue to host college football several times per season through 1947. Occasional games involving the likes of Army, Rutgers, and Notre Dame would take place over the next 20 years before the beginning of the Whitney M. Young Urban League Classic, held between HBCUs, in 1971.

For the next 16 years, the Urban League Classic would be the only source of football in old Yankee Stadium until September 1987, when the final game would be played due to the timing of the event and how damaged the grass would be in the midst of a baseball season.

October 31, 1941: Penn State 42, NYU 0 (Polo Grounds)

Halloween night, 1941. Penn State returned to New York City for the first time in 12 years and to the Polo Grounds for the first time in 19 years. The Nittany Lions opened the season with a disappointing 2-2 record, but faced an NYU team that was outscored 97-7 in its previous three games against Syracuse, Texas A&M, and Holy Cross.

Penn State held the Violets to just 78 total yards and obliterated them for its biggest win of the season in front of just under 11,000 fans on a soggy night in Upper Manhattan. The Nittany Lions led by six touchdowns after three quarters.

Bill Smaltz had a stellar day at quarterback, running and throwing for a touchdown. Len Krouse, John “Pepper” Petrella, Charlie MacFarland, and Bill Debler ran for scores, while Bob Halpin recovered a fumble and scored one of his own.

This would be the final time Penn State would face NYU in football, as the Violets’ Division I football program was suspended in 1952. Penn State will forever hold the head-to-head edge, 2-1-1.

October 11, 1947: Penn State 75, Fordham 0 (Polo Grounds)

The final Penn State football game in the Polo Grounds, and the last in New York City for nearly 70 years, was one of the largest victories in program history.

The 1947 edition of the Nittany Lions was a dominant force, outscoring opponents 332-40 in a 9-0-1 season that ended with an invite to the Cotton Bowl Classic, where they tied SMU. Conversely, the now-FCS Fordham Rams were ghastly in 1947, winning just one game at the hands of now-Division III Merchant Marines. Their season is most well-known for being an important stepping stone for legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi’s career, coaching the Fordham freshmen team.

Penn State won 75-0, which is one of just two times since World War II that the Nittany Lions won a game by 75 points (Cincinnati, 1991). This was a year after pummeling the Rams 68-0, as well.

Penn State outgained Fordham 583-97. They led 55-0 at halftime, scoring 40 points in the second quarter alone. Jeff Durkota had four touchdowns, while Elwood Petchel, Wally Triplett, and Bill Luther each had 40+ yard touchdown runs.

It was a domination in every sense of the word, as the Nittany Lions bid adieu to the iconic, aging, and outdated Polo Grounds, which would host its final college football game in November 1954 before being closed and demolished in 1964.

December 27, 2014: Penn State 31, Boston College 30 (Yankee Stadium, Pinstripe Bowl)

It’s fitting that, as Penn State says goodbye to the James Franklin era in 2025, they revisit the place where he had his first triumph. It’s important to look back and remember the significance of the 2014 Pinstripe Bowl, as it was the first bowl game that Penn State had played in since the 2011 Music City Bowl due to program-crippling sanctions in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal.

The Nittany Lions went 6-6 in the regular season, notably winning road games against Indiana and Rutgers, as well as the Croke Park Classic to open the season in Dublin against UCF. They lost four games by one score, including a brutal double overtime loss in the White Out against No. 13 Ohio State. They reached bowl eligibility with a 30-13 win over Temple in mid-November, but entered the game on a two-game losing streak.

Boston College, which is currently coached by the man that Franklin inherited Penn State from in 2014, went 7-5 that season with a win over No. 9 USC and several close losses against ranked opponents. In late November, they took Jameis Winston and No. 2 Florida State down to the wire in Tallahassee, losing 20-17. Another tidbit: current Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was their offensive coordinator.

On a chilly, late December day in The Bronx, at the new Yankee Stadium, built in 2009 to replace the 85-year-old stadium, the Nittany Lions did battle with the Eagles, and it wouldn’t take long for Penn State to score first, as Christian Hackenberg connected with Chris Godwin for an early 70-yard touchdown.

Boston College immediately responded with three consecutive touchdowns by John Hilliman, Shakim Phillips, and Tyler Murphy to go up 21-7 in the final minutes of the third quarter. Yet, almost immediately after, Hackenberg responded by leading a swift, six-play drive that ended in a DaeSean Hamilton touchdown to narrow the lead.

After several punts, Penn State drove down the field midway through the fourth quarter to tie it on another Hamilton touchdown. Boston College’s Mike Knoll hit a 20-yard field goal with just over two minutes left to take the lead, but Hackenberg led a fantastic two-minute drill to set up Sam Ficken for a 45-yarder to send it to overtime.

In overtime, Boston College started with the ball and needed just three plays to score, as Murphy hit David Dudeck for a 21-yard touchdown. Just when it seemed the pressure had shifted to Penn State, Knoll shanked the extra point. A touchdown and extra point win the game.

On a 3rd-and-7 on the Boston College 10, Hackenberg hit Kyle Carter in the end zone for a touchdown to tie the game. Moments later, Ficken hit a rare walk-off extra point to secure the Nittany Lions’ first bowl win since the 2010 Capital One Bowl under Joe Paterno.

Hackenberg, who would go on to be selected by the New York Jets in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft, finished with 371 yards and four passing touchdowns in his best game as a Nittany Lion. That day sparked a new era for Penn State football; we can only hope the next one does the same.