![]() ![]() The cozy confines of home and the rising costs associated with attending games in some of the more remote college locations - plus not knowing start times until a week or two before - make someone like D’Elia an invaluable resource. As the architect of Penn State’s White Out, D’Elia has traversed the country consulting with other schools who wanted to pick his brain about how they could enhance their in-stadium atmosphere. He was once Joe Paterno’s right-hand man whose marketing chops shined as he morphed into a game day doctor of sorts. It’s based on them, not you, or a script that you made on Tuesday.”ĭ’Elia is a specialist at this sort of thing. This is when they’re exhaling and you join them. “When you see him going down the sideline free and the crowd is going ‘Ohhhh,’ then you hit Zombie Nation at that point before they exhale - not after he crosses the goal line,” D’Elia said. When he watched this game back with Penn State’s game day staff - an exercise they do to see if they hit on the right music at the right moments, delicately toying with the crowd while also knowing they need to be scripted but not too scripted - they knew they got this one right. The moment he scored, the crowd already knew what to do as the song synced up with the home crowd’s cheers of “Oh oh oh oh oh, ohhhh … We Are Penn State.”ĭ’Elia recalls the moment like an offensive coordinator who called the right play to blister an opposing defense. “With the fireworks and the white T-shirts and clothing (against the) black sky,” Franklin said in July, “it’s pretty special.“Zombie, now!” yelled D’Elia, referring to Zombie Nation’s song “Kernkraft 400.” The electronic rumblings from the song’s first few bars were pulsing through the stadium by the time Washington hit the 10-yard line. It had pretty much rotated between two opponents, so it kind of set up an expectation.”īesides the Buckeyes and Wolverines, Penn State had Purdue as its opponent for its inaugural Whiteout in 2004, Notre Dame in 2007, Illinois in 2008, Iowa in 2009 and Alabama in 2011. “I think it also, maybe, caught people off guard because of the way the schedule fell up to that point. “There were a lot of factors that went into it,” Franklin said. The Nittany Lions are 9-8 in all Whiteout games, including 7-6 when the stadium is full (not just the student sections). Until Auburn last year, Penn State played either Michigan or Ohio State in eight straight Whiteout games. 2 Ohio State is set for that time next week. We’ll make sure it’s deafening because that is what it will be on Saturday night.”įranklin said one other opponent was considered for a Whiteout, but that was probably going to be an 11 a.m. “I promise you we will create that environment inside there, and Matt Childers, our video director, has got a heck of a challenge this week. “It’s all part of college football, but we’ll get ourselves ready for that the best we possibly can,” Fleck said. Saturday in University Park, Pennsylvania. Honestly, though, the Gophers practices this week will have volume cranked “to a whole different notch.” Minnesota, a five-point underdog, will kick off against No. “I’m just kidding that’s about as funny as I get,” Fleck added. He said Monday they asked residents in the apartment buildings surrounding their outdoor field to go out to their decks and bang on pots and pans during practice, similar to the way people honored health care workers during the pandemic. Fleck routinely tries to prepare his players for tough atmospheres - and that is especially true this weekend. They will travel to Happy Valley for Penn State’s annual "Whiteout" game, where upwards of 110,000 fans dress in one color for a night game at Beaver Stadium. MINNEAPOLIS - The Gophers football team will enter its most-daunting road environment of the season this weekend. ![]()
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