Hey, Pitt fans: how many of you actually stuck around Heinz Field on Saturday to see the… Hey, Pitt fans: how many of you actually stuck around Heinz Field on Saturday to see the Panthers’ last-minute drive, which left them just one play away from coming back to upset Nebraska?

Pitt was hosting a nationally prominent team on national television in front of an empty stadium.

For those who stuck around, you held your own. It was pretty loud, given that the number of empty seats outnumbered the fans.

But Pitt fans sure can drink with the best of them.

Anyone observing a Pitt tailgate would believe that Pitt’s student body is full of die-hard football fans. In reality, it’s full of die-hard drinkers.

Ask any Pitt tailgater what time kickoff is and you’re likely to hear, “I don’t know, I’m just here to drink.”

But drinking isn’t the problem. There is drinking at every college tailgate.

This is a city school in a pro-football town, and that’s never going to change. That’s why the student body needs to be united.

Take T-shirts, for example. Right now you see people walking around with shirts in navy blue, royal blue, yellow, gray, white and even pink. The designs on the shirts range from the old-school “Pitt” logos to the new and dull “University of Pittsburgh” print.

Starting to see the problem?

Things are much different when it comes to basketball. You could make the argument that the team is better, but Pitt football has been solid over the last four years, so it has to be more than that.

Uniformity rules at basketball games, and the atmosphere at the Petersen Events Center benefits greatly. The student section is a sea of gold “Oakland Zoo” shirts, and, because of fans’ intensity, the organization has received national recognition over the last few years.

Matt Cohen, Oakland Zoo president and Pitt graduate student, says that the biggest difference between football and basketball at Pitt is the facilities.

“I wasn’t around for the Pitt Stadium days, and I’m glad we have the Pete,” Cohen said. “But there’s something about not having your own home.”

Heinz Field is a fantastic facility; don’t get me wrong. But imagine what it would be like to walk to a Pitt football game rather than drive or take a bus. Plus, parking on the North Shore is next to impossible, and the student lot is closer to the Cathedral than it is to Heinz Field.

An on-campus football facility is not in Pitt’s immediate future. But that doesn’t mean the atmosphere at Heinz Field can’t improve. And improvement starts with something as simple as all of the students wearing shirts of the same color.

“I don’t understand why the students don’t all match,” Cohen said. “It was embarrassing to see all the red in the crowd last week as if it were a Nebraska home game. National TV and all they could talk about was the sea of red.”

It’s not up to the athletics department to put a mandate out on what color shirts students should wear. This one is up to the students. They’ve started a “Panther Pitt” with towels that students wave, but so far no shirts have been printed, and if they have, they haven’t caught on yet.

The Pitt football team wears navy blue jerseys at home, right? So this Saturday, if you’re planning on going to the game and sitting in the student section, plan on wearing navy blue.

Ryan Walker is the sports editor of The Pitt News and can be reached at [email protected].