Penn State students showed support for the Virginia Tech community at the Blue-White football game Saturday by giving up an integral part of their tradition -- their colors.

Beaver Stadium was a sea of maroon and orange, from students to families paying their tribute by switching colors for the day.

"I think it shows them that there is a lot of support for the students of Virginia Tech, and we are here to support them," Angela Schlosser (freshman-advertising) said.

Before the game began, a moment of silence took over the crowd to honor the families and victims. Afterward, the Blue Band, dressed in orange, played a version of "Amazing Grace" and the Penn State cheerleaders led the crowd shouting "Let's Go, Hokies."

"We have a lot of pride in Penn State, but it extends beyond our school. This could have happened anywhere, and we want to show them that Penn State is here for them," Mackenzie Kagel (freshman-psychology) said.

She added that she never thought the idea, started by a student on Facebook, would grow as big as it did.

The "S" zone in the senior section was replaced with a giant "VT" symbol, using 800 orange and maroon T-shirts given out by Penn State.

"I think it's really respectful," Chris Fontana (graduate-engineering science and mechanics) said. "I hope all the other schools in the country are doing the same."

The maroon and orange T-shirts will still be available for students to buy at the Family Clothesline, 352 E. College Ave., for the rest of the week, with the money going to benefit the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.

After the game, Penn State football coaches and players alike said the fans' tribute was touching.

"I thought that was great the students and the administration and the faculty and everybody rallied behind the situation at Virginia Tech," defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said. " ... It's just an outpouring of support and sympathy for obviously a very tough situation."

Rising senior wide receiver Terrell Golden, who is from Virginia, said he has friends that go to Virginia Tech and even some that play on the Hokie football team.

He also said he was impressed by the fans' tribute.

"It was just amazing to the see the support that our fans showed for them. Just let them know we don't feel how they feel, but we're trying to help in the grieving process in lieu of the tragedy that just happened," he said. "It was amazing to see all that maroon and orange."

Penn State was not the only university to pay tribute to the lives lost at Virginia Tech. Many of the schools who chose to memorialize the dead were referenced in an online video on YouTube created by Penn State Harrisburg student Brighid Wood (junior-communications).

The video consisted of a slideshow of images taken from various media outlets and was set to the song by Avril Lavigne, "Keep Holding On." She also included logos, which she gathered from Facebook groups, of other colleges across the nation that wanted to show support for Virginia Tech.

Wood said that the video received about 60,000 hits in a day, and this weekend surpassed 140,000 hits. She said that she made a second video after receiving hundreds of requests from other colleges to add their logos, and that video has already received about 20,000 hits.

"I just wanted people in the community to know that no matter what was going on all the colleges in the nation were going to be behind them and support them in any way we could," Wood said.