Penn State Wrestling Turns Up the Volume at 'Awkwardly Quiet' Rec Hall
For the No. 1 Penn State wrestling team, Rec Hall delivers a consistent home advantage. The Nittany Lions have wrestled in front of 70 consecutive sellout crowds at the 75-year-old building, including Friday night's 28-9 victory over Ohio State. Further, Penn State hasn't lost at Rec Hall since 2015, when then-No. 2 Minnesota scored a 17-16 victory.
But is Rec Hall perhaps too sedate a venue for wrestling? Penn State coach Cael Sanderson thinks it is, calling the atmosphere "awkwardly quiet" at times. That's why the Nittany Lions have been playing music during breaks and between bouts of their home matches. Being No. 1 evidently isn't enough to rouse Penn State wrestling fans, or maybe they're watching too intently to cheer. Either way, the Lions want more noise.
"Rec Hall is like awkwardly quiet," Sanderson told reporters in State College after his team's win over the Buckeyes. "We need some noise in there. I did hear a couple people this time saying, 'Turn the music off.' If people made more noise, we would turn the music off. It's just so quiet in there."
Rec Hall, which opened in 1929, is a tight squeeze when crowds get big. Wrestling attendance at Rec Hall has topped 7,000 eight times, according to Penn State Wrestling Club records, though not recently. Renovations reduced Rec Hall's capacity to 6,502, which Penn State wrestling routinely surpasses. Saturday's attendance was 6,659. Still, Sanderson wants those fans to be louder.
"You can hear a 4-year-old kid up in the corner yell, 'We are,' and if that’s the case, it’s too quiet," Sanderson said. "It’s awkward. This is a sporting event. Let’s make some noise."
Expect more noise at Penn State's next two matches. The Lions visit Iowa on Friday night for their annual slugfest, which might generate even more tension this time. The second-ranked Hawkeyes fell decisively at Michigan, 24-11, on Friday for their first dual loss of the season. Penn State (8-0) should expect a response from Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
After that, Penn State hosts its annual match at the Bryce Jordan Center on Feb. 12. Rutgers visits Penn State for the match that regularly sets indoor attendance records for college wrestling. In fact, the eight highest crowds for an indoor college match belong to Penn State at the Bryce Jordan Center. Last year, 15,998 fans watched Penn State defeat Iowa 23-14. But when the Lions return to Rec Hall against Nebraska on Feb. 18, Sanderson expects more noise.
"We're trying to just make it less awkward, so you can talk and have a conversation with somebody sitting next to you without everybody in the arena hearing it," Sanderson joked Friday. "That music's not coming off. We like it. We might crank it up a little bit more."
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