It’s so great to be back home.

Penn State football kicked off its 2025 season at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, demolishing Nevada 46-11 behind a strong defensive showing.

Outside of the players, there was plenty to notice from the opening game. Let’s get into all of our notes from Saturday.

Student Section Issues… Again

In classic Beaver Stadium fashion, there was student section drama. Gate A was packed, with thousands of students pushing into each other, barely forming any real lines. Lots of students waited over an hour to get into the stadium, with some reportedly being told they couldn’t even get in because there were too many, and many complaints about security.

More Student Section Colors

Penn State expanded its student section wristbands this year to six different areas, depending on the color of your band. But the lines weren’t consistent with the same color, leading friend groups to be separated still, and chaos as they were upset and tried to find ways around it.

Some normal entrances to sections were blocked off, leaving students to almost snake around renovations to make it to their color. It also left areas completely empty at the start of the game as they tried to control traffic, but left students struggling to even make it into the game. The final section was still empty at kickoff.

Beaver Stadium Renovations

There was a lot of talk about how the temporary stands would be ahead of the game, but all went well in Happy Valley. Sure, it looked weird with all the scaffolding throughout the concourse, but the temporary stands didn’t look too different or scary from the view in the student section.

While I would still be wary of choosing those seats, no one has had any issues with the immense renovations.

New Drum Major Makes History

The Penn State Blue Band has its first female drum major in history, Ellie Sheehan.

For the first time in 126 years, a female drum major nailed the pregame flip, shutting down anyone questioning her ability. And it was one of the best flips we’ve seen at Beaver Stadium.