Marett, whose room was stocked with beer, chicken wings and too many people to fit on his couches. “So, when they do, they go kinda crazy.”

Some students supported the Rams just to spite their friends.

“I don’t really care who wins,” said Zachary M. Puchtel ’05, while sitting among Boston-area friends crammed into his Grays suite.

“I just really don’t want the Patriots to win.”

But with brand-new commercials and glitzy halftime shows, the Super Bowl drew attention even from students who care little about football.

Amy M. Kelley ’03 and her group of friends admitted before the game to being particularly excited about the long-anticipated Britney Spears Pepsi commercial.

The Pepsi spot appeared during the the game’s second commercial break and Marett’s room became hushed as the group watched Spears as a star from each decade from the ’50s to the present.

But the crowd was disappointed.

“Okay, that was the worst commercial ever,” said Ryan C. Schenning ’03, as Spears hit her last note.

—Staff writer Daniel E. Fernandez contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.