As this season's defining football game approaches, State College businesses are preparing for the invasion of the 12th man.

Sandy Elder, executive assistant of the Hospitality Asset Management Company, said all of the company's six properties -- 586 total rooms -- have been booked for months.

The booked properties include Days Inn Penn State, 240 S. Pugh St.; Motel 6, 1274 N. Atherton St.; Super 8, 1663 S. Atherton St.; Happy Valley Motor Inn, 1245 S. Atherton St.; Nittany Budget Motel, 2070 Cato Ave.; and Hilton Garden Inn, 1221 E. College Ave.

"We do all of our football reservations by form only," Elder said. "For instance, those forms go out for 2007 right around homecoming and they start coming in right away."

In addition, all 149 rooms of The Atherton Hotel, 125 S. Atherton St., have been booked for about a year, front desk operator Anastasia Pantazis said.

The Nittany Lion Inn, 200 W. Park Ave., has also sold out all of its 230 rooms for this weekend, front desk staff assistant Jason Nachman said.

"We take football reservations about a year in advance," Nachman said. "We have been sold out since the beginning of the season."

John Lindo, general manager of Student Book Store, 330 E. College Ave., said he expects this weekend to be busier than any other home football game.

"It's a game that's on the same level as [Ohio State weekend last year]," Lindo said.

Student Book Store will be bustling with activities this weekend, including free pizza, Marine Corps recruiting, amplified radio, cheerleaders and the Bank of America lottery.

"And that's just Friday," he added.

There are a few reasons why this Saturday will mark the busiest football weekend in a while, said Erin O'Leary-Rallis, co-owner of Old State Clothing Co., 310 E. College Ave. She has been in State College through undergraduate and graduate education, and said she bleeds blue and white.

"Michigan beat Notre Dame, and I think people are really anxious to come out and see Michigan in general," O'Leary-Rallis said. "But also, with the 8 o'clock start, it's going to be a really busy Saturday."

Because of the foliage in this area, the first few weekends in October are always popular, O'Leary-Rallis said. But the build-up of the game and the late kickoff time has a lot more people wanting to see Michigan than the scenery, she added.

"All of those variables combined, I would say it will probably be a good 25 to 30 percent [busier] than we've seen the last couple of football weekends," she added.

Old State Clothing uses Penn State cheerleaders to help out the store in addition to extra staff for every home football game. But this weekend they are getting people who aren't even on staff to help with customer service.

"It's going to be a really long day on Saturday," O'Leary-Rallis said. "We have three locations that, because of the football traffic, you can't really bring people back and forth," she added.

This weekend will rival homecoming weekend in terms of busy-ness, said Todd Henry, general manager of Chili's Grill & Bar, 137 S. Allen St.

Zola New World Bistro hostess Annie Swincinski said, for the most part, reservations are booked for this weekend. Zola is completely booked on Friday night and early Saturday, she said.

This weekend should be one of the busiest of the year, Swincinski said.