A view across the Pioneer High School parking lot prior to today's game.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

The sun is shining, the drinks are flowing and excitement levels are rising around Michigan Stadium today as thousands of fans get ready for the big game.

They've been making their way to Ann Arbor from thousands of miles away for the game, clad in their maize and blue or green and white. AnnArbor.com headed out early today to see what was happening around the Big House.

Pay Day

Steve Smith expects the excitement of the U-M vs. MSU rivalry will pay off for him today as he collects Spartan and Wolverine fans’ discarded cans.

Smith started making the trip from Detroit to Ann Arbor on game days at the beginning of this season to collect cans during tailgates on the University of Michigan Golf Course.

“It depends on the game, like today looks like it’ll be a good day, I think I’ll make about $200,” he said.

Carrying a large garbage bag that was already half full at 10 a.m., Smith was walking up and down rows of tailgates, grabbing cans that had been tossed aside.

He said he was turned on to the practice of collecting cans by his girlfriend’s uncle, who had been picking up cans for years. He said his first time trying it was the game against the University of Connecticut this year.

“He had been doing it for a long time, and he’d make good money off of it,” Smith said. “So I took my son down here and we did pretty good, we made a hundred bucks.”

Lines around the block

Kevin Hunyady knew he'd be busy ushering cars off Main Street into the U-M golf course today. He just didn’t think it would be so busy so early.

A quartet of Michigan fans enjoy the beautiful autumn weather on top their RV in the Pioneer High School parking lot.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

The course opened for parking at 7:30 a.m., 30 minutes earlier than usual for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff because lines of cars were already clogging Ann Arbor roads.

“We opened early just because we had such a long line, it was backed up for about 30 cars,” he said, pointing out the gate where cars backed up the street and turned the corner. 

Hunyady guessed the golf course would be full with about 2,000 cars by 11:30 a.m. With each car paying $40, that’s about $80,000 being raised from parking today.

Hunyady said he started getting the course ready for tailgating yesterday.

“I was here yesterday and set up the golf course, put the lines up and that’s pretty much all we do,” he said.

In enemy territory

Jason Roose wasn't going to miss this game.

He lives in Atlanta, but attending the Michigan-Michigan State game with his brother Adam, of Royal Oak, and friend Mike Bukovchik, from Waterford, was too much to pass up. They arrived in Ann Arbor at 8:30 a.m. and were counting the minutes until the game’s 3:30 p.m. kickoff.

This was one of many "mixed" tailgate parties going on in the Pioneer High School parking lot prior to the game.

Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com

Clad in MSU colors, the friends weren't too well-received in the parking lot of Ann Arbor Pioneer High School.

“Actually, not one of them has spoken to us yet,” Jason Roose said. “And I couldn’t be happier about that.”

The three have tickets to the game, and Jason Roose said he’s looking forward to an offensive shootout.

“Looking forward to a good game, it should be exciting,” he said. “We’ve got two good teams, two good offenses, two … teams that play defense (laughs), so it should be pretty good. Should be exciting, and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”

Pulling an all nighter

Friday nights before football games are usually a time for fans to rest up and get ready for the tailgate that looms the next morning. But not for Kurt Jennings and his family.

Jennings' rig was among one of the 105 RVs parked in the Pioneer lots from Friday night until after the game today. He parks there before every home game to wake up early and get the festivities started.

“Friday nights are kinda quiet, people are just getting here and setting up for the next morning,” he said. “If you get a nice night like we had last night and this morning, you wake up and get the food going and the kids start tossing the football around.”

To park an RV in the Pioneer lot costs $175 per game, but Jennings and his family are one of the 40 RVs paying $1,225 for a reserved spot all season. 

All of the money raised from parking at Pioneer, which holds about 5,000 vehicles, goes to support Ann Arbor Public Schools.

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.