Stadium is a quick 80 miles from LSU campus in Baton Rouge

NEW ORLEANS - Imagine playing the Rose Bowl in Chicago, the Sugar Bowl in Kansas City or the Orange Bowl in Omaha.

Outdoors, on a mucky field. Snowy day, temperatures in the 20s. Windy, too.

Maybe that would tilt the edge toward teams like Ohio State when it’s time to decide the national title.

In the meantime … welcome to Tigerland, boys! Oh, and be sure to check out that huge LSU billboard on the drive in from the airport.

“I don’t know that home-field advantage affects outcomes of games, to be honest with you,” LSU coach Les Miles said this week.

As he spoke in the hallway of a downtown hotel, a Dixieland jazz band kept moving closer, playing louder and louder. In the lobby, fans dressed in purple-and-gold feather boas surrounded the LSU stars, and a woman insisted on kissing All-American lineman Glenn Dorsey.

“They tell me it gets progressively better from this point forward,” Miles said. “Or worse, depending how you look at it.”

The Superdome is a quick 80 miles from the LSU campus in Baton Rouge, and the Tigers are plenty familiar with the Bourbon Street buzz leading up to Monday night’s game. The only one absent is Mike, the live Bengal tiger mascot — his cage is being renovated, so he’s back home.

But does proximity provide a huge edge in a game like this? Not always.

Southern California liked its chances for winning the 2005 title at the nearby Rose Bowl. Boosted by a huge throng of Texas backers, Vince Young and the Longhorns upset Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and the Trojans 41-38.

A year earlier, LSU felt right at home in the Superdome, beating favored Oklahoma 21-14 for the BCS national title.

In the 1980s and into the 1990s, Miami got a big boost from holding title games at the Orange Bowl. Back then, opponents such as Nebraska and Oklahoma would trudge away from the old stadium, grousing about playing on the Hurricanes’ home field.

The No. 1 Buckeyes shrug off any worries. They’ve heard all the Tiger tales, about the taunts and trouble. Plus, they point out, they won at the Big House and other big houses this season.

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