Ears ‘ringing’ as Penn State football prepares for Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium
Music from Iowa’s marching band blared at 98 decibels — essentially on repeat — during Wednesday’s practice at the Lasch Football Building.
The Nittany Lions’ only reprieve from the Hawkeyes’ fight song? Crowd noise, pumped in at 105 decibels.
Yep, Penn State is getting ready for Kinnick Stadium.
“Everyone around here understands what we have to get prepared for,” coach James Franklin said, when asked if the Nittany Lions had to have the sound approved by the university or township. (They didn’t.)
“I know coach (Joe) Moorhead told me a story, when he was at Fordham, their practice fields butted right up to classroom, and a professor came out on the field and Joe told him, ‘I don’t tell you how to run your classroom, you don’t tell me how to run mine.’ I’m sure that went over really well. I probably won’t try that tactic.”
But the music isn’t going anywhere. Really, it’s been here all along.
From the start of camp, Franklin has implemented heavy-duty speakers into practice, placed in the end zone closest to Holuba Hall. The Nittany Lions purposefully ran their two-minute drill Wednesday going into that end zone.
“I don’t think anybody likes it,” Franklin said. “The coaches don’t like it. I don’t like it. The players don’t like it. You have a headache by the end of practice. Your ears are ringing.”
Senior tackle Andrew Nelson, who has a “weird” ringing in his left ear whenever he’s in a loud area, said that was going on all Wednesday.
“But it’s good work,” Nelson said. “I’m honestly excited to go to Iowa to see the atmosphere those guys have.”
No one on this team was around for Penn State’s last game at Kinnick — a night game in 2012. But they’re familiar with the environment, and not just from the music.
Franklin remembers watching Michigan’s upset loss at Iowa in 2016. Hours after the Nittany Lions took care of Indiana on Nov. 12, 2016, they tuned in to ABC to check out the primetime contest. Iowa’s 14-13 win was far from pretty, but the scene in Iowa City was anything but dull.
Franklin has never been to Kinnick Stadium — but he and his players saw what it was like for the No. 3 Wolverines last season. They know what to expect on Saturday night.
“That place is going to be rocking,” Franklin said Tuesday. “Their sidelines are tight. Their fans are going to be right up against you. We want to get our players prepared for that.”
It’s a difficult test to start the Big Ten slate. Although Beaver Stadium, The Horseshoe and the Big House get all the attention, Kinnick Stadium and its 70,585 patrons make for a trying environment.
The Nittany Lions faced charged, one-sided crowds last year; think Penn State’s trip to Ann Arbor and the Rose Bowl. But a lot of Penn State players have played in only one Big Ten road night game: at Rutgers last year, when traveling Nittany Lion fans took over High Point Solutions Stadium by halftime and had to be removed from the Scarlet Knights’ empty student section.
A night game at Kinnick Stadium will be a different experience altogether — and, yet, the Nittany Lions feel prepared.
“I wouldn’t say it should have any effect on us at all,” Penn State safety Marcus Allen said. “We’ll just stick together and play to our standard.”
Added Franklin: “It’s going to be a tremendous challenge, there’s no doubt about it, and we’re looking forward to it.”
This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 8:33 PM with the headline "Ears ‘ringing’ as Penn State football prepares for Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium."