Students gathered to watch Super Bowl 50 on Sunday night. While many opted to view the game privately with friends, others attended organized screenings to enjoy the game between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, which ended in a 24-10 victory for the Broncos.
Lady Gaga’s performance of the national anthem, accompanied by the Blue Angels fly-over, kicked off the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif. Fans watched in anticipation for an exciting game between the two teams.
Around forty freshman attended a screening of the game in the AMR II Lounge hosted by the Residential Advisory Board (RAB).
Freshman Brianna So is an ardent Broncos’ fan and showed her support for her home team by wearing a Broncos hoodie.
“I’m supporting the Broncos because I’m from Denver, and my whole family supports them. We watch every game every Sunday. I’ve followed every Broncos game since coming to school. Even the ones they didn’t air here, I watched them online,” So said.
She expressed anticipation for an interesting game and was glad that she was able to enjoy it with other students, football fans or not.
Also at the event were students supporting the Panthers. Annika Seiden, a freshman from New Jersey, watched the game in hopes of a Panthers victory.
“I like the Jets, but they’re not in the Super Bowl. I’m going with the Carolina Panthers because they’re an east coast team, and I have to represent the east coast,” Seiden said. “I entered a lottery sort of thing for my dad’s office, so I want to see the score at the end of the quarters. That way I’ll know if I won cash.”
The Broncos dominated the first quarter, scoring both a field goal and the first touchdown of the game after Von Miller sacked QB Cam Newton. Malik Jackson recovered the ball in the Broncos’ end zone. Miller was later named Super Bowl MVP.
The Broncos evened out the score a bit in the second quarter with the second touchdown of the game.
However, the gap was once again widened after the Panthers’ defense failed to stop Jerious Norwood from running a 61-yard punt return, the longest in Super Bowl history. The Broncos then scored their second field goal of the game.
Despite subsequent interceptions by both teams, the score remained 13-7 at the end of the half.
The Hopkins Organization for Programming (HOP) and the JHUnion Satellites hosted a viewing in the Levering Lounge with free pizza, ice cream and drinks that attracted around fifty students.
Junior Kinaya Hardie praised the convenience of the game screening.
“This was one event that was really convenient. My friend is in the HOP and she told me about this,” said Hardie. “I’m not a big football fan, but I do come from a big football family.”
Hardie followed many of the NFL games leading up to the Super Bowl and rooted for the Panthers.
“I’m supporting the Panthers because, well, Cam Newton,” she said. “I’m a Redskins fan, so I kind of just chose the team I’m rooting for today. ”
Casual NFL viewers like Senior Randy Cruz also attended the event.
“I came to this event because it’s free food, and I don’t have a meal plan. This is something to do on a Sunday night. I’m not a terribly big football fan, but I do follow it during the seasons,” Cruz said. “There’s no particular group that I’m supporting. I’ll just see what happens.”
About an hour and half after kickoff, Coldplay opened the Super Bowl 50 halftime show with a string of their most popular songs. Bruno Mars then joined Coldplay on stage to perform “Uptown Funk.” Following that, Beyoncé performed her new single “Formation,” with a crew of dancers, and proceeded to perform a dance interlude with Bruno Mars. The two then joined Coldplay for another rendition of “Uptown Funk.”
The show ended with Coldplay’s “Clocks” accompanied by clips of previous Super Bowl halftime shows.
The halftime show received mixed reviews from students. Freshman Liresa Hearn praised the show for its nostalgic value.
“I really liked the montage that they did of all the past halftime performances,” Hearn said.
Freshmen Nicole Cheng and Abigail Pearse, felt that the show fell short in terms of total length and time division between the performers.
“Even though Coldplay was supposed to be the main performance, both Beyoncé and Bruno Mars upstaged Chris Martin,” she said.
Cheng wanted Beyoncé to have more time.
“It seemed pretty short for a halftime show. I wish there was more Beyoncé,” Cheng said.
Trailing 13-7 heading into the third quarter, the Panthers acted quickly to move the ball down the field. Just past the 50-yard line on a fourth down, the Panthers opted for a field goal attempt. However’s Ted Ginn, Jr.’s 44-yard kick attempt went off-center, hitting the outside of the right upright.
The Broncos, meanwhile, continued to extend their lead with a field goal from Brandon McManus.
The Panthers tried to get momentum going with a 40-plus-yard pass from Newton, leading to an impressive catch by Corey Brown. Flanked by Broncos, Brown jumped a few feet into the air to grab the ball and then fell flat on his back, but kept the ball.
But the Panthers failed to capitalize on the 40-yard gain. The Broncos failed to score, though, and the score remained 16-7.
The Broncos continued to dominate the fourth quarter, scoring their second touchdown and widening the gap to 14 points, clinching their win.
Many students enjoyed the game, with Broncos fans like Brianna So happy about their win.
“It was a really exciting game,” So said. “I’m very happy that the Broncos won. Our defense was amazing. If this is Manning’s last Super Bowl, I’m glad they ended on a high note.”
Others felt that the NFL championship game didn’t meet their expectations. Freshman Timothy Lee noted that the game was not as clean as it should have been.
“I think it could have been a better game. There was a lot of unnecessary roughness. It wasn’t a very clean game overall, and there were too many fumbles to make it too enjoyable” Lee said. “It made it interesting, but this is the Super Bowl. I understand that there’s a lot of pressure, but it could have been better.”
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The News-Letter.