In a follow-up to 2009’s Chargers Fan For a Day (at a home playoff game, with my friend Mike) and January’s Wisconsin Fan For a Day (at the Rose Bowl, with my friend Stacey), I completed the trifecta and spent Saturday dressed up as a Stanford alum for 2011’s Stanford Fan For a Day (at the USC game, with my friend Molly).

Molly (a writer at The Mag) actually is a 2003 Stanford grad, in biology, as are lots of her friends. So they lent me a T-shirt, taught me the cheers (“Penetrate! Penetrate! Increase the aggregate yardage!”) and the fight song (All Right Now) and when to interject (“5-6-7-8-woah!”). Don’t forget to jump! (on the “woah!”) Then we talked our way into the Stanford tailgate at the Annenberg Center, had our faces painted, danced with the band, hugged The Tree and made new friends. As far as those new friends know, I am “Alyssa Roenigk, Stanford class of 2003.” (Hey, if I’m lying about my alma mater, I might as well take a few years off, too!)

Then we met up with more of Molly’s friends at the real tailgate outside gate 12 to the Coliseum. There, we had a couple beers, smack talked with USC fans (even though, in all honesty, I equally wanted to see Luck play in person and live up to the hype AND Barkley and the Trojans pull off an upset win) and met the guys who dreamed up the fun “Luckamania” campaign. As a true-blue Hulkamaniac in middle school, I had to buy a headband, of course. I think that’s about as fun a Heisman push as I’ve seen. This —> should be a billboard in Times Square.

The game, if you didn’t see it, was an instant classic. Three overtimes. Four-and-a-half hours. More than 100 points on the scoreboard. Andrew Luck has my vote (if I had one) and I know I’d trade a couple of draft picks to grab him (if I ran a team). If I were the Dolphins, I would make sure we didn’t win another game all season. (And if I were Peyton Manning, I’d start worrying my owners are thinking of doing the same.) But Barkley was impressive, too, especially in overtime. All of them. (And, if we’re making comparisons, he didn’t throw any picks.)

All in all, it was an awesome day. I had such a blast and so much more fun than I would have if I’d simply dressed up and went out partying for Halloween. (Although I have a really fun idea for next year!)

Sunday, I returned to my usual allegiance as a Steelers fan for the day. And, because of a big Steelers W over the Patriots, I won a bet with my friend James, who’s from Boston. Stay tuned of photos of him wearing one of my Steelers T-shirts … for a week!

Thanks, Molly (that’s her with the monkey on her head), for a really fun day! Next year, I’m bringing her to The Swamp, teaching her The Chomp and lending her some orange-and-blue.