GREEN BAY, Wis. — No Lambeau Leap, LSU knows that much.
Or at least the Tigers have been warned.
At some point, anyway, the mystique of playing in perhaps the NFL’s most tradition-rich stadium will fade and it will settle into the first major college game ever played at Lambeau Field, with the fifth-ranked Tigers traveling to take on the home-state Wisconsin Badgers.
It’s a season that begins with high expectations for the veteran Tigers.
But Friday LSU got the introductions out of the way — Helleaux, Lambeau — with a walk-through (in suits and ties) on the hallowed turf, if not the storied frozen tundra, not in September.
LSU sold 23,000 tickets to a game almost 1,000 miles from campus and head coach Les Miles said he expects many more have obtained tickets through other means.
“I think we’ll have 30,000 there in purple and gold,” he predicted.
A good ration of them seemed to be at Lambeau to greet the Tigers Friday.
Miles spent three years in the NFL on the Dallas Cowboys’ staff, but was also a newbie to Green Bay.
“Not been there,” he said. “Only heard from others … and (about) what a wonderful place it is to play.”
“It’s a very historical place,” said LSU offensive guard Will Clapp. “We all know about it. All the skill guys talk about the Lambeau Leap. It’s tremendous.”
Unfortunately, the Lambeau Leap, a staple of celebrating Packers jumping into the stands through the years, would cost a college players a 15-yard penalty, so Miles has forbidden it under threat of “they’ll end up with their thumbs up to see if they can get a ride back home.”
They won’t get the full frozen Lambeau treatment anyway.
Temperatures have been dropping into the low 60s this week — if not exactly “Ice Bowl” material, then maybe even a welcome respite for LSU players fleeing their native heat and humidity.
“We’re south Louisiana boys,’ Clapp laughed earlier this week. “If it’s 60 degrees we’re breaking out the thermal socks.”
Probably no need for that.
But LSU was getting the tourist routine out of the way Friday, all the better to eliminate the oohs and aahs and let it be just another football game by the time today’s 2:30 p.m. kickoff rolls around.
Star running back Leonard Fournette, whose Heisman Trophy campaign will begin at that hour, seemed to be alone with his thoughts Friday. He was spotted, earphones in, slowly walking up and down the famous 100 yards.
“It’s definitely a place you dream about playing,” Fournette said earlier this week.
Today those dreams come true as the Tigers embark on a season high on potential with 17 starters returning from a year ago.
“I thought we had a great fall camp,” Miles said. “We’re ready to get going.”
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