Nittany Grab Bag | by Jay

• Pep rally is in the stadium tonight. 6:00 PM. Rumors of a "big name" appearing are at present unconfirmed.

• Pep rally is also viewable online at UND.com if you're interested. The link will be available there once the rally starts.

• Scalpers' prices are out of control, but ND is cracking down.

• UND has a transcript of a Travis Thomas interview that's really good.

• Easter Heathman is getting an honorary monogram at the pep rally.

• SBDomer posted his South Bend Pub Crawl over on NDN, which I've reposted here (so it doesn't get lost in a board flush). 10 bars in one night -- not for the faint of heart.

• Lots of good retrospectives around the web on the all-time ND-Penn State series, especially this one from the PA Centre Daily Times. We're 8-8-1 against the Nittanies overall.

• Looking at the historical rundown, what strikes me is that 12-year, home-and-home series that ran from '81 to '92. Could you imagine any team signing such a long-term deal today? Of course Penn State was the other prominent Independent team at the time, so it really made sense from both sides to do a long-running series. But that whiff of nostalgia whets my appetite for another bold stroke of scheduling, instead of more dinks-and-dunks of the Big East variety. How about a 12-year home-and-home with Alabama?

• I'm off to South Bend bright and early tomorrow morning. See you Sunday. Go team.