Fall Of Troy/Weekend of No Consequence/New Jersey Music Prepper

Holy crap is stuff getting crazy around here.

Sure, it would be cool enough if it was just USC vs. Notre Dame this weekend, with Pete K, Peter Winter, Dill, Shane and my sis coming in, but things are getting sufficently insane.

First the pep rally was moved to the Stadium, and now there's talk of Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen or the both of them being here for the rally. The band is playing "Livin' On A Prayer", so perhaps a Boss/Bon Jovi/Nation's First Marching Band collaboration?

(As crazy as this whole thing sounds, it actually makes sense, since you consider Charlie spent the formative part of his coaching career stomping the Meadowlands with the Giants during the 1980's. Also, Bruce is scheduled to be in Chicago on Thursday night, but has an open date Friday. Interesting stuff.)

At this point in time, everyone should know that Gameday will officially be here, with the action apparently starting as early as tomorrow with Lee, Kirk and Chris, followed by Cold Pizza (my chance to bludgeon Skip Bayless in the face) and Gameday Saturday morning. As we learned last night while comatosely watching ESPNews, they'll actually be broadcasting our pep rally on Friday night, which lends even more legitness to the thought of someone big showing up other than Joe Montana, whose already scheduled to speak.

(Just for the record, Dillon is one of the hosting dorms. We're sort of awesome like that.)

As far as the actual game goes, this is going to be huge. Ivan Maisel and Pat Forde end their "State of the Game" ramblings with a nod to a trip to northern Indiana, probably joining every other football writer worth their salt. NDNation is getting ready, and BlueGraySky has been going crazy for a week now, busting out every old school Irish/Trojan reference they can get their hands on. CollegeFootballNews also has a nice, unbiased piece up, getting you ready for Saturday's clash.

According to SI.com's Midseason All-American list, you'll be see seeing three of the finest at their positions, and that's being pretty bleak with the selections. If they were on a team by themselves, Steve Smith, Dwayne Jarrett and LenDale White would all be All-Americans, and I think after Saturday either Brady or Matt or will be usurping Vince Young at the starting quarterback slot. Of course, let's not forget one of the key players in this game - or The Toughest Matchup in All of Football Today - is playing on a slightly bum knee.

As far as predictions go? Nobody's getting saucy enough to take us yet, and I can't really blame them with the 114th ranked pass defense, but three of the four SI.com writers have us powering through to the BCS, and so does CFN, but I'm not linking to them out of protest of them refusing to drop Miami, LSU and Ohio State as BCS participants.

So there's all the linkage you could possibly need to get you started on your Saturday priming. Might I also recommend keeping your camera on hand starting Thursday afternoon, as this place is going to be full of stuff you won't want to miss. I'll continue to pursue my dream of having my Facebook picture be me alongside Chris Fowler, but if I can get a random shot of Dick Vitale and Regis Philbin walking arm-in-arm, I'd take that.

Business is definitely, definitely picking up.