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Through Pat Narduzzi’s short time as Pitt’s head football coach, there’s been a lot of talk about a newfound excitement around the program.

Pitt’s ticket sales for the upcoming season provide tangible proof of that excitement.

Athletic director Scott Barnes said the program has set an all time record for season ticket sales, selling 55,630 season ticket packages for this season. They broke the previous record of 53,775 - set in 2003.

Of those 55,630, Barnes said they renewed 94 percent of their previous season ticket holders (eclipsing their goal of 93 percent) and sold 12,247 new season ticket packages, beating their goal of 9,770.

In part, the excitement for the season comes in the team’s matchup against Penn State on Sept. 10. Pitt quickly sold out tickets for the game through season ticket packages and three-game mini-packages, which prompted nearly 16,000 requests for single-game tickets for the contest. Only 2,000 of those 16,000 ticket requests could be provided. Pitt has also released standing room only tickets to season ticket holders for the game.

Barnes expects an extremely Pitt-heavy atmosphere for the game.

“I don’t know what that percentage [of Penn State fans] will be, but it won’t be very high. The majority will be Pitt,” Barnes said. “It will be an incredible home game atmosphere.”

Of those Penn State fans that will be at the game, Pitt provided 3,300 tickets to the school, which will be reciprocated to Pitt in the following year’s matchup at Penn State.

With so little available tickets for Penn State, Barnes said some Nittany Lions’ fans have bought season tickets or mini-packages just to attend that game.

“This is our house. We don’t mind a donation or two from the Nittany Lions,” Barnes said.

Going forward, Barnes hopes to continue to have a rivalry game on the schedule, whether it is Penn State or West Virginia. Getting one of the two, let alone both on the schedule in a season could become tougher, with talk of the ACC going to a schedule that includes nine conference games.

“It’s very important to us, whether we’re nine or eight [conference games], to continue to have a rivalry game,” Barnes said. “For us that’s always going to be in the mix as much as we can.”

Recently, Pitt also unveiled its alternate, throwback uniform, which it will wear against Georgia Tech on Oct. 8. Though Barnes anticipated a positive response to the jerseys, the buzz generated from the release was beyond what he expected.

“It was a pleasant surprise to see how much enthusiasm we got, even across the national landscape,” Barnes said. “I think it’s more of the same in terms of when we unveiled the Pitt script, the new uniforms and now this.”