Last season a concrete landscape replaced Paternoville. Gone were tents and cheers -- substituted by an empty Gate A and student grumblings.
Forget the national exposure; forget the student pride. The administration pulled the plug without warning; some campers didn't find out until they had already set up tents.
Sure, students could still set up a day or two before the game. But the spirit of Paternoville had shifted. The campus craze, organized by students and for students, suddenly became a university-sanctioned, scaled-down version of a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Maybe that's why the news from the student-run Paternoville Coordination Committee (PCC) was so upsetting this week.
The student organization withheld information that a May meeting extended this past week's Paternoville. Students were able to scout the area Monday night and pounce on spots at midnight on Tuesday.
Too bad only the PCC knew about it.
The easy answer is the PCC just wanted the best seats. The company line, however, explained the PCC was actually looking out for its fellow students: If Paternoville was quiet and controlled, the administration might expand the makeshift town to a full week, PCC vice president Chris Grassi said.
Another PCC member said fans had ample opportunity to check PCC's Web site. Repeated attempts to access GreedyPSUStudentFans.com were unsuccessful, however.
Between the administration last year and the PCC this week, it's just not the same Paternoville. Just ask any Paternoville resident who slept outside Beaver Stadium during the 2005 Ohio State game.
Students helped fellow students pitch tents, businesses brought in free food, Joe Paterno visited students with a smile, recruits dropped jaws and players autographed shirts. Fans savored every moment. If ever a crowd changed the outcome of a game, it was that day.
Students were rustled awake not by alarm clocks but by the Blue Band clanging cymbals and marching through the tent city. IPods weren't necessary -- Penn State cheers were sung on the hour every hour. It was a magical week.
But Paternoville residents were then stunned. How could the administration strip away such a monumental movement from the students? The event was taking Penn State pride to new levels, and it was snuffed out by Penn State itself.
"[College] is the greatest experience of your life," Joe Paterno said last season. "You're only here once, and let's be careful that we don't take away some things they're going to remember the rest of their lives."
This week, the PCC took away part of an experience that other students could've always remembered.
It's still not difficult to come early and stay late for a game that may become the most attended game in college football history. But the PCC's actions still leave a bitter taste with fans who would've cherished that 2005 Ohio State atmosphere.
The administration originally scaled back Paternoville because it feared electrical problems, among other issues. The PCC was afraid there'd be consequences if it told other students.
Maybe both groups should've listened to Paterno last season.
" ... I hope we don't get to the point where every time there's a lot of enthusiasm for something that we gotta worry about the consequences."
Josh Moyer is a senior majoring in journalism and is the Daily Collegian football editor. His e-mail is jjm454@psu.edu.
