Fifty-six points is a lot of points.

Penn State football’s 56-0 win over Kent State made life relatively easy for Nittany Lion fans, who didn’t have to worry about a MAC upset as they did against Bowling Green two weeks earlier.

Additionally, Penn State fans had plenty to keep them entertained outside of the football game. Let’s take a dive into what we noticed from Saturday’s game.

Military Appreciation Day Makes Its Return

Saturday’s game against Kent State served as Penn State’s Military Appreciation game, complete with all the fanfare.

The Nittany Lion donned his typical fatigues for the game, while Hakeem Beamon delivered an American flag to his mother, a former U.S. Army Signal Corps Officer.

As “the Star Spangled Banner” echoed throughout the stadium, fans were also treated to a flyover from U.S. military jets.

Flyover views from atop the pressbox #afflyover pic.twitter.com/p9PWK4xOV9

— Beaver Stadium (@beaver_stadium) September 21, 2024

Ribbon Boards Active

One of the more notable aspects of Beaver Stadium’s early slot of renovations was the new ribbon boards, installed on top of the stadium behind the south end zone and along the stands behind both end zones.

While the ribbon boards weren’t supposed to be ready until the Ohio State game, they displayed ad messages throughout the game with little space actually devoted to game material. However, lower ribbon boards did flash scores from across college football, and the top ribbon boards occasionally told fans to get loud with Penn State on defense.

Kent State = Marching Band School

As soon as you heard, “Fans of marching bands!” you knew it was going to be a great show.

As Bowling Green did two weeks ago, Kent State brought what seemed to be its entire marching band to Penn State. The group put on a great show, highlighting its historic space program in front of 109,000 attendees.

If Bowling Green and Kent State have set the standard, this is going to be a great year for band nerds in Pennsylvania.

Clouds Make Empty Threats Of Lightning Delay

After Penn State’s game at West Virginia was delayed by several hours due to lightning, fans had some concerns as dark clouds rolled in overhead and messages about lightning warnings flashed across the Beaver Stadium video boards.

However, bad weather managed to avoid State College for possibly the first time in history. Despite some rain at the beginning of the game, folks enjoyed bright skies and a beautiful sunset by the game’s end.

With Game In Hand, Students Clear Out

While most Penn State students stuck out the Bowling Green game two weeks prior, many of those same students left Kent State at halftime. It’s hard to blame them — the Nittany Lions had a 28-0 lead over a team considered the worst in the FBS.

Still, the empty seats, leaving under 10 rows filled with students, made for a weird atmosphere at the postgame alma mater. Maybe folks just didn’t care about offensive yard No. 718?