Has State Farm Stadium ever been as loud as Saturday?

It was loud.

Loud like a freight train screaming past your window, which was fitting since the Purdue Boilermakers were being introduced.

It was a few minutes before the team with a railroad locomotive for a mascot would tip off against the N.C. State Wolfpack in a men’s Final Four game at State Farm Stadium, and it occurred to me that the April finale of the phenomenon known as March Madness is one of those sorts of experiences that just doesn’t translate on a screen.

Not TV. Not a computer. Not a cellphone.

No matter if you watch every second of the game in 8K UHD or click every link to every YouTube highlight or look at all the InstaSnapToks from your favorite influencers.

There’s just no way to capture just how LOUD it was.

All the Midwesterners in black and gold made sure of it, if only to make their guys feel at home.

“It was pretty loud," Purdue center Zach Edey said. "But we play in Mackey Arena, so we’re used to some noise." Maybe.

But the guess here is that there's no way the 15,000-seat venue in West Lafayette, Indiana, was as loud as State Farm Stadium, which was packed with nearly 75,000 fans.

It was as loud in Glendale as Zach Edey is tall.

And at 7-foot-4, Edey is just about as tall as they get. He looks tall when you’re right next to him. Grown men have to stare straight up to attempt eye contact. Edey makes everyone an otolaryngologist because average-size people end up staring into his nostrils to talk to him.

He’s also been the best player in college basketball the last two years.

Purdue fans did their best impression of a railyard at rush hour when Edey’s name was called.

But N.C. State fans weren’t about to be out done.

They’ve got a pretty big star, too. DJ Burns, who at 6-foot-9 would be the tallest guy at your school or your office and quite possibly the tallest guy you’ve ever met (unless you’ve met Edey.)

Burns, however, is famous because he’s as wide as he is tall. If you trust the media guide, Burns is 275 pounds. If you trust your eyes, he’s 330.

And his frame, which would make him a contender for a professional wrasslin’ tag team championship all by himself, has made him into an icon.

He’s gotten so many name, image and likeness endorsement deals during the Wolfpack’s NCAA Tournament run that Jake from State Farm and the GEICO Caveman are jealous of his Q score.

And the Wolfpack fans howled when Burns was introduced.

I’m not sure this building has ever been as loud as it was during this game. I’ve been to countless Cardinals games, a half dozen Fiesta Bowls, a Super Bowl and an international soccer match at State Farm Stadium, and I’ve never heard the volume level anywhere close. (Not even when the Cardinals play the Cowboys and Dallas scores.)

The game was riddled with these sorts of moments.

With about 13 minutes left, things got chippy. N.C. State had been trailing but was making a push.

Then Purdue’s Fletcher Loyer made a hustle play, and his teammate Lance Jones hit a 3-pointer, and the Boilermaker fans blew like a steam whistle.

“It’s a change of momentum, and you’ve got to get the crowd involved because you want to make runs," Loyer said. “When you look up into the crowd and see that many people, it just gets you going.”

TV captured the action. Computer screens displayed the highlights. And InstaSnapToks documented some of the pandemonium.

But it didn’t translate.

Not all the way.

For that, you had to be there.