To reign victorious over Michigan State University, many Penn State students will have to bleed -- though maybe not blue and white.

The 16th annual Penn State vs. Michigan State Blood Donor Challenge kicked off Monday, sponsored by the Student Red Cross Club. Over the next three weeks, there will be 19 blood drives in many areas of campus, including residence halls and the HUB-Robeson Center.

Student Red Cross Club adviser Wendi Keeler said Monday's drive in Hintz Alumni Center saw 85 donors and collected 67 pints of blood -- two more than the day's goal of 65 pints.

"It's a great start for us," Keeler said.

Scoreboards will be posted around campus for the next three weeks to track the collection totals, she added.

Organizers hope to collect at least 2,000 pints, Keeler said. However, Penn State has beaten that total for the past two years -- something Michigan State has never been able to do, she said.

While some high schools and donation centers in the surrounding area have struggled to collect blood this past flu season, Keeler said she thinks student donations will remain strong.

"We have so many people here, we can absorb it," Keeler said.

Student Red Cross Club President Jenn Schweighauser said the overall reason for the blood drive is to increase blood collection. There is typically a large drop in donations between Thanksgiving and Christmas, she said.

This year, she's hoping to beat the 2,199 pints that Penn State collected last year.

"I think it's so wonderful people are being so selfless," Schweighauser (senior-psychology) said.

The blood collected from Penn State will be distributed across the Greater Allegheny Region, covering six different states from Northern Kentucky to Southwestern Pennsylvania. About 100 hospitals will receive the donated blood, Schweighauser said.

Alpha Epsilon Delta, an honors premedicine student organization, runs the "Blood Cup" challenge, an in-house competition between student groups to encourage donation among students. The top three groups from each category -- small groups, large groups and greeks -- are given awards at the end of the three-week competition.

Alpha Epsilon Delta President Derik Tomlinson (senior-mathematics) said the drive is a great effort to get a lot of blood, adding that it is a "great feeling" to play a part in the blood drive.

Keeler said she is looking forward to the next three weeks and believes she will see students turn out in even bigger numbers than in the past to donate blood and beat Michigan State.

"Penn State likes to win," she said.