The student section of Beaver Stadium, which is clearly marked by the white-out, will shift towards the west side to cover the entire southern end zone come 2011.
In 2011, Alabama will be making a trip to Happy Valley just in time to hear the new and improved audible assault at Beaver Stadium. After an in-depth study of acoustic engineering, a team of scientists discovered a way to optimize the noise level at Beaver Stadium all in the name of discomfort for visiting teams. Already dubbed the best student section in college football by ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and scientifically the loudest stadium in college football, Beaver Stadium is going to be even louder.
When Penn State is on offense, the 107,000+ stadium reaches around 75 decibels. However, when the defense takes the field, the noise is a deafening 110 decibels. Opposing players have to yell at each other just so they can communicate. It should come to no surprise that the loudest part of the stadium is centralized in the student section which currently stretches from the middle of the south end zone to the 40 yard line on the east side.
To maximize the roar of the student section, the school is going to reconfigure about 20,000 seats in the student section to cover the entire southern end of the end zone. Though this may attenuate the sound on the east side, the noise on the west side of the stadium should increase by a deafening 50 percent. When the opposing team is in the south end zone, it will be virtually impossible to hear one another.
The southern end zone will be so loud that it will surely disrupt offensive play calling which will presumably cause false starts and miscues for visiting teams. The new seating configuration will no doubt redefine the definition of home field advantage and with Alabama coming into town in 2011; PSU will need every advantage it can get.
