BATON ROUGE, La. ó Crossing the Mississippi River on the Horace Wilkinson Bridge, heading east into Baton Rouge well before 8 o’clock, lights shine brightly above the visible upper deck of Tiger Stadium.
Tailgating fans dine on Cajun cuisine and drink cold beers. LSU student Nathan Schreiber, who left work four hours earlier and hustled over to join his assembled group of friends, stands a few feet away from a co-ed game of flip-cup.
No one seems fazed by the fact it’s 7:30 a.m. rather than p.m.
The atmosphere at Death Valley during a night game is unmatched, but a Bayou breakfast is no tame affair.
“With a 10 a.m. start, I think people just didn’t go to bed,” Schreiber says.
Fans of LSU and Appalachian State have converged at an unusual time to watch an atypical season opener. The reigning FBS and FCS champions, once slated to face off at 4 p.m. CST, will play two hours shy of noon because of the threat created by Hurricane Gustav.
LSU eventually wins 41-13 in front of a near-capacity crowd, but the outcome is just part of the story.
Louisiana residents, only three years removed from the devastating landfall of Hurricane Katrina, discuss the potential of their highly ranked Tigers and welcome a distraction from their weather-related concerns.
Appalachian supporters embrace another opportunity, win or lose, to see their team compete against one of college football’s premier programs.
One group of young men drove to Baton Rouge from Winston-Salem. Salisbury’s Chris Fowler made plans to fly into New Orleans with his father and one other gentleman, and they switched their destination to Jackson, Miss., on Thursday. The trio rented a car in Jackson and arrived in Baton Rouge after a 21/2-hour trip.
Saturday morning, Fowler takes sips from a soda can as he relaxes amid a throng that has gathered outside Maddox Field House for the official Appalachian tailgate party.
“The Michigan game last year, I was offered a chance to go, but I didn’t think they had a shot,” says Fowler, an area director for Young Life. “I didn’t want to pay out all that money to see them get blown out.
“I regretted not going, and I’m glad I could come this year.”
Approximately 1,500 tickets were purchased for the ASU outing, which was supposed to take place inside the Maddox building.
Everything was in place when Tracey Ford, Appalachian’s vice chancellor for alumni affairs, received word at 9 p.m. on Friday that FEMA had taken over the interior space and began converting it into a relief shelter.
The contingency plan suits Ford. Satisfied alums sample catered foods such as crawfish etouffée and jambalaya as they sit at crowded, tree-covered tables.
Ford says she made only one menu change: she added Bloody Marys to the list of available drinks.
“It’s certainly warmer than we had hoped,” Ford says, “but at least it’s early so it’s not as warm as it could be.”
Fans start moving toward the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, which is across the street from Death Valley. Stadium Road runs between the two facilities, and LSU football coach Les Miles will lead his team down that narrow path in a matter of minutes.
Before long, the stadium will begin filling up and a truck transporting a caged Mike VI, the latest in a line of live bengal tigers, will complete a lap around the outskirts of the field.
It’s just another Saturday in Baton Rouge, albeit with an earlier start.