Despite students' efforts, junior Calie Mohamed said the atmosphere at Notre Dame on away football weekends is incredibly different from the atmosphere on home football weekends.
"I don't think people get as excited about the game," she said. "I mean everyone still watches it, but they're not as into it as [they are on] home game days."
Mohamed stayed in South Bend this weekend while the Notre Dame football team traveled to Pittsburgh, but said she still felt at times like she was in the student section of Notre Dame Stadium.
"We still did pushups when we scored and we sang the Alma Mater at the end," she said.
Mohamed watched the Pittsburgh game at a friend's apartment, and said the excitement on campus did increase slightly when Notre Dame regained the lead in the fourth quarter.
For senior Kelly Miller, the away game weekend provided a chance to relax.
"[My roommates and I] made breakfast and had a few people over and watched the game," Miller said. "It was way more laid back than home weekends are."
Miller said the greatest perk of an away weekend is having more time to yourself.
"Almost every home game, I know people that are coming in, so you have to plan out your whole day," she said. "I mean it's always great to see people, but you have to plan everything out to hang out with them."
Mohamed agreed that away game weekends give students more downtime.
"Personally, I'm a lot more productive," she said. "This past Friday I did some work and I never do that on game day weekends."
For students who don't have a place to watch the game, dormitories frequently hold game watches on away game weekends.
Junior PatriziaMartellaro, the Cavanaugh Hall president, said Cavanaugh and Zahm Halls hosted a joint game watch in the Zahm basement for the Michigan game.
"We figured it was the first weekend, so not a lot of freshmen have places to go or people to hang out with yet," she said.
Although Cavanaugh did not organize a game watch for the Pittsburgh game, Martellaro said the dorm plans to hold them for the more important away games left this season.
She said Cavanaugh usually holds game watches in the basement, and the dorm orders pizza for students who attend.
Away game watches offer students a chance to interact with each other during the game more than they do in the student section, Martellaro said.
"People are still pretty into the game, but there's a lot more socializing during it too," she said. "People can just watch, talk a little and hang out."
