LSU vs Tennessee

( 27 - 30 Loss )

There's nothing better than being in Tiger Stadium on a Monday night.

Wait a minute... that's not right. Monday Night? Then again, what has been normal for anyone recently in the state of Louisiana.

Hurricane Katrina forced the Tigers to postpone their original first home game, and move their second home game against Arizona State to Tempe. Then Hurricane Rita created another delay and set up the first Monday nighter in Tiger Stadium. Perhaps the most highly anticipated home opener in program history.



Miles sprinted with his team onto the field and received a huge, enthusiastic ovation, albeit from a crowd somewhat thinner than what normally greets the Tigers at kickoff. There was an anticipated a crowd smaller than the 92,400 capacity. At kickoff, it appeared to be around 80,000 with fans still arriving. Announced attendance was 91,986.

The Tennessee game was a sellout for its original Saturday kickoff, and LSU planned on a full house, but that was highly unlikely, considering what has happened in this state the last four weeks combined with the game being moved to Monday. After all, thousands of ticketholders live in southern Louisiana.

Friday nights at LSU, the day before a game, are usually lively with thousands of tailgaters who spend the night. But Sunday the campus was quiet with only a handful of RVs in the lot just south of the stadium. All around were other signs this game was different. Just three hours before kickoff, campus hardly resembled the madness of a normal game day. LSU has estimated in the past that 150,000 people tailgate in addition to the average 92,000 people actually inside the stadium. During the game, the population of Tiger Stadium alone outnumbers 63 of Louisiana's parishes.

That being said, LSU's game against Tennessee on Monday in Tiger Stadium went down as the most watched college football game in the history of ESPN2.



I left work early to join Chad, who had been on campus earlier during the day to find tickets. He was able to get two seats in the south endzone, on the lower level, right inbetween the uprights. The difference in the amount of tailgators was noticable. I was actually able to get a decent parking spot only 3 hours before the game. Normally, you'd have to arrive no later than 10 or 11 am (for a 7pm game) to be able to park on pavement.

We walked around campus, watched the Tennessee buses pull up to the visitors entrance. When it was time, we went into the stadium and found our seats. It was then I noticed that my phone was gone. I had somehow lost it outside the stadium. Chad called it a few times, but it took a while before someone picked it up. Luckily, the person that found it was honest and also had tickets for the south endzone. They brought my phone to me.... you don't know how grateful I was. (Thank you whoever you were).

So we sat there, the crowd slowly trickling in, except for in the student section which was already more than halfway full. We were on the opposite side from them. It felt so strange not being over there, waiting for the band, chatting with other students or dancing with my friends. It's a different world in that section and I missed it.

The people sitting next to us were really nice though. The fellow next to me was from Los Angeles. He was a USC fan *gags* but a very nice guy. It was his first time in the area and was excited to be there. We talked about random things, but generally, he sat back and observed everything. I laughed when he asked me what "GEAUX" meant, a truely unique part of our culture here. He told me he had never seen anything so intense, the spirit and loyalty of the fans, the rivalry, the whole SEC experience. He was overwhelmed, but so glad to have been there and truly enjoyed it.

I guess the experience could be a little overwhelming for visitors. Tiger Stadium is a rough environment at times. The same goes for most SEC stadiums, considered to be the toughest in the nation. "The Swamp" is unbearably hot, Tennessee's Neyland Stadium is one of the largest in the nation, and then there are the humid nights in Tiger Stadium, also one of the largest arenas but arguably also the loudest.



Of course, weary LSU fans forced by nature's wrath to wait nearly a month to watch their team play at home hoped for better as the first Monday night football game in LSU history became more memorable for the opponents' comeback overtime win than the respite provided. Tennessee, who had been outscored by LSU 21-0 in the first half, outscored the Tigers 23-3 after halftime to claim a 30-27 victory. But with the game being played at the end of a business day in a city that has battled snarled traffic since a couple of hundred thousand Katrina evacuees ended up here, just playing football was a welcome relief to the LSU community and its faithful following.

At the games end, we congratulated the remaining Tennessee fans (the ones that hadn't left out of disgust at halftime) and I hugged that nice fellow from Cali goodbye and wished his favorite team to have a good season.

I was smiling, while walking back to my car after the game. Even after such a dramatic loss. I can't explain the feeling, but for the almost 8 hours spent on LSU's campus and in Tiger Stadium, I had finally felt like things were normal. I don't consider it a loss because I know I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

GEAUX TIGERS!