With the Big Game coming up, there’s another big game brewing: Stanford and Cal are neck and neck for the $25,000 Kickstart Alumni Challenge, with USC at their heels. Michigan made a huge leap in the rankings this week, and is now just one point behind UT Austin. The action isn’t just with the big schools, though — Tulane and Carnegie Mellon are also serious contenders for the prize.

These schools, among all US colleges and universities, are competing through December 31st for this trophy: a $25K donation awarded to the school with the most alums on Kickstart, Yahoo!’s new product that connects college students and recent grads with alumni. The purpose of Kickstart is to help students and alums find each other for career help, whether it’s for internships and jobs or advice.

We kicked off less than a month ago, and we’ve been overwhelmed with the enthusiastic feedback we’ve received. Many users wanted to spread the word to their friends and coworkers; we’re putting the final touches on an invite feature that will be out shortly. Many users added international schools and companies; not only did we increase support for these locales, we also overhauled our search so it’s easier for users to find organizations and people as the numbers increase. Most notably, we’re seeing a lot of support from alumni communities who have been lacking a solution to connect with fellow alums, including new grads.

So help your school win the prize! It doesn’t matter if your school is big or small; what matters is which one has alumni who step up and represent. Sign up on Kickstart and spread the word to your fellow alums to show their school pride.

While the $25,000 prize is a great way to show support for your school, you’ll also be helping current students see what is possible after graduation. Your profile could be that special flag that turns the game around on a future grad’s career. And who knows, maybe another alum on the site will reach out and offer a whole new play on your own career. The best way to maximize all these chances is to put your best foot forward in your profile and get out there.

Good luck!

Cynthia Johanson, Dan Wascovich and the Kickstart Team