Tusk to Tail: It’s the last dance on the Hill for nine months

It was a nice break last weekend to just do some yard work, watch some excellent football games, attend our daughter’s dance competition, and catch up with friends. The season can be long at times, and even though my spouse enjoys football, it was good to not to worry about a tailgate and spend some quality time with her.

This week marks the home stretch of the season. First LSU this Saturday on The Hill, and then trips to Starkville, Miss., and Columbia, Mo., to wrap it up. We all know it has been a worse season than expected record-wise, and that is directly reflected by attendance in the stadium and at tailgates. That made Saturday night’s announcement of a 6:30 p.m. kickoff that much more important. A chance to tailgate all day, an opportunity to let hunters do their thing during the day, but still attend the game that night, and a national audience to see the new stadium renovations sounds like a good day to me.

Now I’m not saying it will be a packed house. I think the cooler weather will prevent that, but I would be surprised if there aren’t close to 60,000 fans there for the game against the Bayou Bengals.

I’m also hoping the cool temperatures are too much for the Tigers. Hopefully, they will just want to get back to the locker room to get warm and lick their wounds after that Bama game last Saturday. It has happened before with them.

The weather on Saturday says sunny with a high temp of 51 which is a little cool, but pretty close to perfect for a game in November. We are ordering some side walls for the tent this week, as the wind will be coming out of the south. Once the sun sets, it’s going to get cold fast. We are going to load in a patio heater or two as well, just to keep Greg Houser and any stragglers warm during the game.

With LSU, we always try to do a bit of a Cajun themed menu. Brad has his take on a Cajun Paella and we will have some red beans and rice, brats, duck poppers, Popeye’s Chicken Tenders and some jambalaya. I also like to have some hot chocolate and hot cider on hand to help warm up the kids and other guests who need it. We have 4-5 generators we can use on any given game and this tailgate will need at least four. A nice tip with the cider is that you can put it in a crock pot on the warm setting, and keep it that way for hours.

Lastly, with this being our first night game on campus, don’t forget to hang some lights. It will be dark by 5:30 p.m. That still leaves another five hours of tailgating. Also, bring extra gas for your generators. For the morning games, just a full tank was enough, but with 14 hours on campus, a refill will be necessary.

Remember to pace yourselves, hydrate and enjoy yourselves. It will be a long day and the last one here for nine months.

Go Hogs! Beat Tigers!

Editor’s note: Welcome to the seventh season of Tusk to Tail – the sport of tailgating as organized, performed and perfected by a group of Hog fans who have been tailgating together sober and otherwise for more than a decade. Tusk to Tail is managed by Talk Business & Politics and sponsored by the River Valley Smile Center … because it’s another dang rebuilding year and you’re gonna need a good smile to get through the season. The diehards may also be followed on their Facebook page. Or follow the crew on Twitter — @TuskToTail