Nitt Picks Hates Empty Seats

The Daily Collegian's Opinion page is hot with athletic topics again today, with plenty of attention focused on those empty seats in the student section on Saturdays and the behavior of some of the students.

First, Robert Biscontini of the Class of 1974 is worried about how Alabama fans will be treated when they come to Happy Valley next year.

I learned a lot about hospitality, life — and football — a few weeks ago in Tuscaloosa. Adults and students invariably welcomed us, conversed, invited us to join them, bought drinks and complimented our coach and program. That won’t happen when they visit next year. One student will scream at some family with kids. Another will spill Nacho cheese on one of their fans, like I saw a drunken kid do to an Iowa fan last year.

Hopefully, stories of the hospitality shown to Penn State fans in Tuscaloosa will continue to circulate so that situations like the ones Biscontini is concerned about can be avoided.

Student Mike Kaiserian is upset with the student ticketing policies.

Since the implementation of paperless ticketing for football games, there have been noticeably fewer people in the student section. On Friday afternoon, just a few hours before the 5 p.m. sale deadline, there were more than 150 tickets on sale for $69 and hundreds more for cheaper. And that’s before the $1.95 processing fee, and the $29 more it would cost to validate a guest ticket (that’s $99.95 for a guest).

The athletic department took a good step forward this year by moving the sale/exchange deadline back, but judging by attendance at the first few games this season, the system could probably still use tweaks so more students are able to make it inside. For what it's worth, yours truly bought a regular ticket this past week because the seats on the student exchange cost too much money.

Finally, Collegian columnist Jessica Uzar:

But looking up from the field last game, I noticed that our student section was not filling up. In fact, I’m not sure it ever entirely filled up.

At first, I was a little disappointed. But after thinking about it, I realized that half of those students were probably too drunk to attend the game and the other half were faithful friends making sure those drunks got to bed okay.

Is that an excuse for not attending the game? I don’t mind really. It was still an early season game (granted, not an easy game like we would’ve liked).

Aren’t we a school known for our football culture, including the sometimes heavy tailgating that is taking place outside?

Just my piece, but I think regardless of Penn State's tailgating reputation, the "best student section in college football" should be in the building at kick off.

Big East=TCU?

The New York Post is reporting that the Big East is looking into the possibility of adding Texas Christian to the struggling conference.