As the clock struck midnight Thursday and Paternoville campers were finally allowed to put up their tents, Paternoville public relations representative Dan Saxton said the campsite's strong turnout was very surprising.
"We have way more people than we've ever had for the first game," he said. "Easily a record."
Aided by students who arrived at Beaver Stadium's Gate A at 2 p.m. Wednesday to get in line to put up their tents, Paternoville registered the largest turnout for a first season game in its five-year history.
As of 12:21 a.m. Thursday, 29 tents and an estimated 200 people were already set up and registered as campers for tomorrow's season opener against Akron.
Paternoville Coordination Committee (PCC) President Alex Cohen said the last two season openers against Florida International (2007) and Coastal Carolina (2008) each had no more than 12 tents and 50 campers.
"It shows how much excitement there is for the upcoming season," Cohen said. "We don't mean to put any pressure on the football team, but we expect to go back to Pasadena [for the Rose Bowl] or even the national championship."
Three-year Paternoville veteran Matt Grisewood was the first camper to arrive.
Grisewood (junior-chemical engineering), who has only missed four Penn State home games since he was three months old, said he has never seen a crowd so big for this type of opponent.
And he wanted to make sure he got the best seats possible.
"It's really, really important for me to show my support for the team," he said. "To be showing it up in the first row is a lot better than showing it from the 30th."
Another Paternoville veteran, Katie Huber (junior-public relations), said she was stunned by the turnout.
"I'm really impressed, especially by the amount of freshman who came out," she said. "It's really cool to see so many people. We usually only have a few tents for the first game, but there is a ridiculous amount of people here."
Among the freshman was Chris Cortez, who was camping out with a group of friends from his dorm.
"I've missed maybe two games in the last 12 years, so this was a no-brainer," Cortez (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said. "Camp out, get the best seats in the best stadium in the country."
The PCC is using this week as a dress rehearsal for bigger games later in the season.
The serpentine gates at Gate A are now bolted into the ground, making them impossible to move for tents as Paternoville had done last year. And as a result, tent placement has become an issue.
"We don't know where we are going to put people when we have larger crowds for Iowa and Ohio State," PCC Vice President John Tecce said. "We're still working with the athletic department."
Despite lingering questions about tent placement, a different problem has been solved with the help of the university, organizers said.
Paternoville is now fully equipped with its own Wi-Fi network, allowing the PCC to run its list of participants through Google Documents. In past years, the list was kept on a single sheet of paper.
"Now all we need is a computer," Cohen said. "The new system makes things a lot more organized."
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