Two miles away, in the campus' West dorms, students who eschewed football for naps were forced to close their windows because of the noise. When you play at Penn State, it's always loud - but any of those White Out games, especially the night ones, it was a different level." "The noise was actually vibrating through the facemask," Connor recalled earlier this week. He tried to pinch his helmet near the ear for relief. It wasn't a sensation with which he was familiar. He was the nation's top linebacker as a high schooler, a Bednarik Award-winner in college - and he coaches high school ball now.īut Connor still can't forget the student-only White Out in 2005.ĭeep in Ohio State territory, near the student section, he could feel his head buzzing. The EvolutionĬonnor played in 62 career NFL games and 44 college games. that was a little crazier than usual." Now, at least, there'd be a second one. Penn State fell to Purdue, 20-13, but the first White Out was a success. Signs went up, chants were started and campus cafeterias were flooded with ads. Others would paint their faces white and parade through the HUB-Robeson Center, a popular student hangout. Some students would stand on street corners and shout about the White Out through megaphones. It was just over and over and over again." We had a pep rally that was all about the White Out. Everything they promoted that game week was all about the White Out. "I remember there being a hype around it. "I remember stuff on the White Out was all over the place," said Zack Mills, Penn State's quarterback during the 2004 season. So the marketing department turned to essentially its only option - guerilla marketing. Worse yet, D'Elia knew, if the White Out didn't succeed this time - then it was probably dead forever. Facebook remained in its infancy, and Twitter wouldn't even launch for another two years. Student email addresses were off-limits, and social media didn't really exist yet. This was a White Out involving only the students, but the marketing department had only two weeks to plan. 9 against Purdue - and the color-coded experiment might not work if students were forced to wear sweatshirts or winter jackets. Penn State had only one remaining home game before late October - on Oct. Those were the simple roots of the White Out, born away from offices and meeting rooms. We figured everyone's got a white T-shirt - so let's make it white." "I just thought, how do you get people to act as one?" said D'Elia, Penn State football's former director of communications and branding. Guido D'Elia can still remember staring up at a quiet student section in early September 2004, turning toward a marketing employee and asking aloud, "You think we could get them to wear one color?" Here's how it all happened: The Beginning Penn State's White Out boasts humble beginnings, the spontaneous idea of an official who - 12 years ago - had no inkling this would grow into a Penn State phenomenon. This isn't a tradition steeped in years of planning and focus groups. "And I can only imagine a visiting team's player seeing 100,000 in all white filling up the stadium. The White Out, it changes for the players - the players can really see what kind of support they have behind them," Connor said. He twice has witnessed the White Out, in 20, and he'll see it again Saturday night when the second-ranked Buckeyes visit Penn State (8 p.m. Even Ohio State coach Urban Meyer named it one of the game's top-five atmospheres - and he should know. The Nittany Lions' White Out has fast become one of the great spectacles in college football, an event that has inspired as many Penn State fans as it has copycats. You can't emulate that environment, that type of noise and that type of energy. "It was piercing loud, I think that's the best way to describe it."Īdded former Penn State linebacker Dan Connor, who spent six seasons in the NFL: "It's really nothing I've ever experienced before. "You couldn't hear the guy six inches next to you," remembered former Michigan center Jack Miller, who was on the sideline for the 2013 White Out. Welcome to Beaver Stadium during a White Out, an annual Penn State tradition where more than 100,000 fans dress in white and scream until they go hoarse. Players' ears ring, their helmets sometimes vibrating, from a wall of noise. The stadium shakes once the first note of "Zombie Nation" hits. The field rumbles as if a locomotive is approaching from the south tunnel. How Penn State's White Out became the in thingĬollege Football, Penn State Nittany Lions You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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