It was a successful Halloween in the sense that I ate several Reese’s Pumpkins and they tasted as they should.
It was also a successful Halloween in the sense that Penn State football played a confident game against Purdue.
So besides me eating a lot of Reese’s Pumpkins and Penn State winning, Did You Notice:
• This week’s DYN started a few days ago. Earlier this year, Penn State unveiled its Penn State Rewards program where fans can earn points in various ways that can be cashed in for prizes – most of which are experience-based. Penn State fans can earn points by linking their credit card to their account and making purchases at places like Dunkin’, Giant and Jersey Mike’s. You can also earn points by checking in on the website daily and at Penn State games.
I’ve been pretty consistent about checking in on the website to earn the daily points as well as having a decent number of points for signing up early as I wanted to understand the system. Therefore, I happened to notice a ticket reward for Saturday’s game for an extremely low value – the lowest I’ve seen this season – and cashed 5,000 points in for two lower bowl tickets in part because of my curiosity about how good the seats would be.
And I was both impressed with my experience in terms of getting the tickets and the seats the 5,000 points afforded me. Within a few hours of cashing the points in, a rep sent me my tickets after a brief email exchange asking for the best email to send the tickets to. The seats were in section EB, row 35, roughly at the 10-yard line of the south endzone.
Obviously there were a lot of seats available for very affordable prices this week, but if you are someone who is using or saving up points, know there is quality value when cashing them in.
• While at these seats, I was able to check out something I noticed upon seeing that Penn State Allstate insurance commercial for the 409th time recently.
It appears Allstate used some sort of digital editing as it relates to the architecture of the stadium. The biggest giveaway to me on the rewatch was the exoskeleton structure of the stadium in regard to the support for the north deck. In the commercial, there is an outer walkway-type ramp system attached to the back of the deck.
However, from that general point of view, the north deck has less steel showing. Additionally, there are fewer window panes from the edge of the suites to the 1894 on the second level of the suite than there are in real life. I counted at least 18 panes between the end and the “1” in 1894 in real life. In the screenshot from the commercial, I counted just 14. The general shape of the panes is also off. There is also a Penn State wordmark and logo that appears in the commercial at the bottom of the suites that is not there in real life.
What I believe Allstate did is actually shoot the commercial on the west sideline before the second deck expansion was added prior to this season. The structure matches on the end zone deck seen in the commercial matches the south end zone.
Does any of this matter? No but I noticed it and that’s the whole point of this piece.
• I walked around the second level of the stadium on my way to my usual NB seat, including the new back hallway of the west side renovation. There isn’t much in the way of food up there but the food that I did find for sale was a game-changing Beaver Stadium food addition.
In that area of the concourse where there is a beer fridge and a few food items for sale, one of those food items is turkey and Italian subs from Marianna’s Hoagies. (For those not from the Blair County/Centre County area, they’re hoagies sold by Delgrosso’s often as a fundraiser and they’re quite good.) The hoagies will run you $19 but include a full Marianna hoagie and a bag of chips.
There weren’t many of them for sale and I’m not sure that I’ve seen them anywhere else in the stadium. But yes. Finally. This is the type of food that Beaver Stadium needs.
(And yes it also includes all of the toppings. I got a turkey one and enjoyed it immensely.)
• Penn State’s reported attendance was just over 102,041. A reminder this number is tickets sold plus a few other things and not necessarily tickets scanned.
That said, there was not much energy inside the stadium in pregame. That eventually changed in part because of the team’s performance and the officials’ lack of performance. So much so that Matt Campbell thanked the crowd after the game.
Still, this is one of those games where I would love to see the scanned ticket number vs. the reported attendance. It did not feel like 102,041. Sadly, we’ll never get that. However, according to Steve’s Penn State Football Spreadsheet, that figure makes it the second-lowest non-Thanksgiving weekend attended game since 2017. Only Akron in 2017 had a smaller reported attendance.
• We’ve reported extensively on soda prices – so much so that we got Penn State to lower them this season. I’ve found a new loophole. While there still aren’t many places where you can get a bottled soda the same way you can get a beer at a grab-and-go kiosk, there are a few. Those sodas are 20 ounces, just like the soda cups you get from the concession stands.
However, the bottles of soda are even cheaper than the cups of soda. It’s $6.50 for a bottle while it’s $7.35 for a cup of soda.
• I did not see the Big Ten Conference flag being carried across the end zone after Penn State scored this week.
• I also didn’t see any events going on at the Gate F patio area that had been previously gated off at points this season, which seemed to have required a special ticket or access in the past.
• It seems that Penn State is playing “Don’t Stop Believin’” as an in-between third- and fourth-quarter song. It’s much better than the 4th Quarter Flag (RIP) and the question. This was the second game in a row that Penn State has done that.
It also made the lights inside the stadium dance to that song. I will say I think Penn State may have gotten the idea from Northwestern, who did the same thing between the third and fourth quarter when the Nittany Lions were there for the opening of Ryan Field in September.
• I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the note about the 125th anniversary of the Alma Mater. It’s a good fun fact.
• It appears that the gate Giant has entitlement rights to – at least for now – is Gate E. There is a giant – pun intended – picture with their logo and the Nittany Lion there as well as other branding.
• Sheetz message for the week: Boilermakerz Bring The Steam, Sheetz x PSU Bring The Heat.
• Has the Nittany Lion ever not danced to “Thriller” at the Halloween game?
• While Penn State highlighted a lot of fans who wore costumes on Saturday on the jumbotron, the real star of the show was the EMT guy singing along with quite a few songs.
• The jumbotron showed Matt Campbell after he was heated about a call. I think that was the first time that’s happened with him.
• Saturday was the last All-U Day of its size as Penn State prepares to close seven branc.. excuse me.. commonwealth campuses.
• We’ll have some thoughts hopefully on the podcast this week – and maybe on the blog – on ticket renewals. That was the talk of our tailgate and I’m sure yours too this week.
Alright, I think that’s everything this week. Maybe a bit slow on some of the stat updates today as we’re off to Pittsburgh for the Steelers game today. As always, let me know what you noticed by emailing me at darian@stuffsomerssays.com.
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