We had a great time a few years ago at the Independence Bowl in Shreveport. There were a ton of fans of other teams (like LSU) that just came to tailgate and didn't have any intention of going to the game. We had a blast and are ready to come back to Louisiana and experience game day.
I like that this is probably your biggest home game of the season as far as anticipation. That should make the atmosphere as good as it can get. Over the last few years OSU has really become a good tailgating school. Prior to that it was rare to really see much of it.
Has anybody heard about ticket sales? I normally don't buy through OSU unless I have to. They generally charge a LOT more than I can buy tickets and move to the OSU section. I think the estimate for this game is $65/ticket. But I won't know for sure until my season tickets arrive and they send out the away game and bowl sign ups.
A bit about OSU: Lots of changes from last year. On offense we lost our three year starting QB, best WR (Dez Bryant), leading rusher (Keith Toston), starting 4 starting OL. On defense we lost both starting corners, all three starting LBs, and a couple DL.
We are putting in a new offensive scheme since we brought in the OC from Houston. I don't know that our talent fits the offense just yet, but Holgorsen does a great job of adapting to the talent and we do have a lot of talent, it is just unproven. The starting QB this year is an old man (by college standards) that played a few years of pro-baseball. He came in at the half against Colorado last year and brought the team back for win. Having back 2009 pre-season All-American RB Kendall Hunter will help a lot. Many expect him to average 20-25 touches a game but many will be from the passing game instead of hand-offs.
Defensively there is a lot less anxiety than on offense. Mainly because of DC Bill Young. We have a known commodity @ MLB and our SS is a potential All-American. We have a lot of guys that played a lot last year but few starts.
OSU hasn't fared really well playing on days other than Saturday during the season for a while so that is a concern. I'm not overly concerned about our offense coming into this game as this will be the 5th game of the season. If they haven't started clicking on offense by then, it will be a long season.
David Harrell - Pokes
dwh