Beaver Stadium didn’t break any records. It didn’t even sell out. That didn’t matter.

In Penn State football’s fourth White Out or White Out-esque game of the 2024 season, the fans made a difference in a 38-10 win over SMU in the first round of the College Football Playoff. A fanbase that was hungry for its first playoff win watched its team win in one of college football’s toughest atmospheres. After buying 106,013 tickets, about 500 short of a sell-out, fans tangibly created that atmosphere.

Penn State and James Franklin had expressed concern in the week before the game that Beaver Stadium wouldn’t be the same as it normally was because of how the College Football Playoff managed the game. Still, it became a non-issue. “Mo Bamba” blasted throughout the venue as the stadium physically shook on big plays.

Plenty was supposed to work against the crowd on Saturday’s game. Several Penn State students who requested tickets for the game didn’t receive them, though Penn State Athletics said that every student who requested a ticket by the deadline received one. Regardless, several sections in the student section were sold to the public, and SMU fans gobbled up several rows in WA.

Most students had already left town before the game, anyway. With finals week in the rearview mirror, students took off for winter break, leaving the section depleted regardless of how many students may have been looked over for ticket requests.

Regardless, the student section had one of its loudest games of the season. As Penn State’s defense built up momentum following interceptions from Dom DeLuca, Tony Rojas, and again DeLuca, the crowd was invested. While the outcome of the game was assumed by halftime, students stuck around through the fourth quarter, though many hit the exits to try and avoid the cold weather that descended on State College.

Three false starts in the red zone cost SMU 15 yards total in front of that depleted student section. The Mustangs frequently appeared frustrated throughout the game as they struggled to communicate on offense while quarterback Kevin Jennings spent plenty of the game covering his ears.

“We got what we expected. I don’t think we burned timeouts because of the crowd, per se, but I thought 95% of the game we handled the crowd great,” head coach Rhett Lashlee said postgame.

While SMU felt it handled the crowd well, it still wasn’t perfect. It was difficult for a team with a stadium capacity of 32,000 to get ready for a crowd more than three times that size. For as loud as the Mustangs played “Mo Bamba” in their practices and as well as Jennings felt they prepared, SMU felt the impact of home-field advantage in the playoffs.

“I think that’s when it affected us the most. [It] was that third quarter going into the end zone where the student section was,” Lashlee said. “And that’s what college football is all about. We got to handle that better.”