Many Pitt students, including me, are very excited that students can go to football games in person after a long year of watching them online. Since many students who were first years last year, including myself, never experienced an in-person game due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the student section at games are packed now. 

So far, I have attended four home games this year — the game against Western Michigan on Sept. 18, Georgia Tech on Oct. 2, Clemson on Oct. 23 and the latest game last Thursday versus UNC. Luckily Pitt won three out of those four games! The weather was fairly warm and nice for the first two games. 

However, for the Clemson game and UNC game, the weather was definitely not on our side. It was windy during the Clemson game, which made it difficult to have a good time. It was the same for the UNC game, except it also started to pour during the second half. The UNC game felt like I was back at a high school because it started at 7:30 p.m. and the vibe during the game was much different from other Pitt games that took place. It was nice having something to look forward to at the end of a weekday rather than wasting an entire Saturday at the stadium. 

My friends and I normally like to get to the games almost 30 minutes to an hour early so that we could get the best student section seats. However, for the UNC game, we got there a bit later and had to sit in the upper student section. This seating definitely wasn’t as enjoyable as sitting in the lower part because we couldn’t cheer with the majority of the students. But the upper section was calmer, which some students might find more enjoyable. 

At every game my friends and I went to, we got rally towels that say “Panther Nation” and “Pitt” to throw and cheer with during the games. But the most exciting part, in my opinion — besides winning, obviously — is when the crowd sings “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond between the third and fourth quarter. I’ve noticed that Pitt’s tradition of replacing the last instrumental part with Panther pride phrases such as “Let’s go, Pitt” and “Go Pitt” makes the crowd much more engaged during the game.

Besides cheering, I also look forward to getting food during halftime. My favorite thing to eat at the games would have to be the crab fries from Chickie’s and Pete’s or the nachos from one of the concession stands. 

My friends and I normally get food at halftime because we get hungry around then and standing in long lines makes the food taste even better. It takes about 30 minutes to an hour to get food, depending on what you want, which is a bit annoying since we often miss a good chunk of the third quarter. 

Unfortunately, Pitt only has one more home game against the University of Virginia on Saturday. Sadly I will not be going, since I’m leaving for Thanksgiving break the day before. I am still happy that I got the opportunity to go to the other home games. 

These are my first college football games and definitely the most memorable since I couldn’t attend in person last year. I definitely want to go to a few home Pitt basketball games this season, since I really enjoy watching the sport and I think it would be a lot of fun to be more involved and show some school spirit.

Shriya writes about everyday things that happen on campus at the University of Pittsburgh. Talk to them at [email protected].