Football Preview: Panther Pitt student section hopes to unify students at Heinz Field

When the Pitt football team takes the field for the season opener against Youngstown State on…

Thanks to the formation of The Panther Pitt, expect to see a lot more blue in the Pitt football student section this fall.

Ohad Cadji, For The Pitt News

When the Pitt football team takes the field for the season opener against Youngstown State on Saturday, a sea of navy-blue-clad fans will greet it by the north end zone of Heinz Field.

That mass of navy will be known as the “Panther Pitt” — the reinvented football student section.

An effort of the Student Government Board’s Traditions Committee, the group’s aim is to improve the football game-day experience.

And according to senior Mike Osterrieder, who helped organize the new student section, right now is an ideal time to tackle such a task.

“This is the perfect time to do this, because there is excitement surrounding football now, immediately because of [new head coach] Paul Chryst, and then next year we make the move to the ACC,” he said. “After that, our schedules are going to be better, bowl games are going to be better, game times are going to be better.

“Overall, within these next couple years, I think the football experience is really going to improve substantially from where it is now and where it has been,” Osterrieder said.

Student excitement doesn’t appear to have taken any significant hits after the debacle of last year. While senior Kahill Liddell says he’s disappointed that he won’t be around to see Pitt take on the ACC, he’s nonetheless hopeful about Pitt’s football team this season, especially given its opportunity “to go out with a bang in the Big East.”

“A new year is a new year. I will always have faith in the Pittsburgh teams,” Lidell said. “I love my school, and because I love my school, it’s innate for me to love my team.”

Since its formation last year, the committee has moved quickly, designing a T-shirt that students will receive when they buy football season tickets.

Panther Pitt organizers hope the shirts will add uniformity to the section, similar to the intense cohesion visible in the Oakland Zoo — the basketball student section. This is to combat a lack of uniformity at football games in recent years, as evidenced by the wide array of unrelated colored shirts (neon green and pink, among others) frequently seen in the section.

Improved transportation from campus to Heinz Field and back has been another goal of Panther Pitt organizers, and additional pickup and drop-off points, signage and buses are planned for this fall.

“It will be easier to get to and from games,” Osterrieder said.

The idea of an organized, unified student section at Pitt football games is not a new one. The Panther Pitt was first created in 2003 by alumnae Robin Frank and Julie Brennan on the same basic premise as the current one: improving the student experience at football games.

Frank said that when she graduated law school at Pitt in 2007, the enthusiasm had waned on former head coach Dave Wannstedt after his hiring had initially provided such fervor and helped the group to grow.

And soon after, the old Panther Pitt organization ceased.

As for how this incarnation will pan out, it’s too early to know for sure.

“I can’t really speak on that. We can only wait and see,” Liddell said.

To Cam Saddler, an outspoken senior receiver on the Pitt football team, the enthusiasm needs to be revived because of the important role fans can play.

“Sometimes the games get long, and just having a student section that’s ready [and] loud, that can give you a little extra oomph. That’s why it’s called the 12th man,” Saddler said. “Sometimes we need a little help. Sometimes we’re going through a rough patch. If we get a big play and the crowd gets into it, that can get us going a little bit on offense.”

Perhaps the biggest challenge the group will face is finding out how to counter, if not solve, the “Sweet Caroline” quandary: the mass exodus of students beginning after the popular song is played at the end of the third quarter at each home game.

With people leaving in droves, it’s hard for the players not to see it.

“We notice it on the sidelines. It’s not something we’re proud of,” Saddler said.

Section organizers say there will be more interactive activities during the fourth quarter aimed at rewarding those who stay for the entire game, such as text-to-win competitions with potential prizes, including use of a luxury box for a game.

The first major football-related on-campus event scheduled by the new group was the bonfire and picnic with Chryst and the team on the Cathedral of Learning lawn on Thursday.

The group has also announced that there will be fireworks after the season opener against Youngstown State on Sept. 1, and the following Thursday game at Cincinnati will be screened on the Petersen Events Center lawn.

These events are put on with the assistance of Pitt’s Athletic Department, but the section is a student-reared endeavor, according to J.D. Schroeder, vice president of the Oakland Zoo and member of the Traditions Committee.

The group’s social media presence on Facebook and Twitter provides an avenue to get information to a large number of people quickly and maintain interest in the team between games.

At last check, the Panther Pitt group already had more than 2,000 followers on Twitter.

While the Panther Pitt hopes to replicate the Oakland Zoo’s success, it wants to do so in its own way.

“We don’t want the Panther Pitt to be a carbon copy of the Oakland Zoo for football. It doesn’t work,” Osterrieder said. “The sports are different, the rules are different [and] the sizes of the student sections are completely different.”

That said, both student organizations have the same aims.

“Ultimately, our end goal is the same [as the Zoo’s] — to get loyal, unwavering support, intense game days and a fun atmosphere,” Osterrieder said.

If anything, the amount of success the Zoo has enjoyed shows that the Panther Pitt has the potential to work.

“That’s proof right there that the Pitt student body as a whole is loyal, supportive and cares about athletics,” Osterrieder said. “They just need something to rally around, and for football that hasn’t been there.”

Schroeder has seen before what an engaged fan base can do at Heinz Field. In 2009, Pitt faced Cincinnati with the Big East Championship and a subsequent Bowl Championship Series bid on the line.

“Heinz Field was completely full,” Schroeder said. “It was rocking. It was a great atmosphere, and so we’re hoping when the team starts winning, we can get that kind of momentum and people want to come and see a winning team.”

For players like Saddler, the effects of a successful Panther Pitt and consistently energized home-field atmospheres like the Cincinnati game would carry over onto the field.

“The crowd plays a big role in the game whether people believe it or not. [I don’t know] if they feel like we’re just feeding them nonsense,” he said. “The crowd really does play a big part in what we do on Saturdays.”