Game will be a close one for LSU

CARNELL STEWART Has played here before

NEW ORLEANS - Officially, it is a neutral location. The Superdome, site of tonight's Bowl Championship Series national title game between Ohio State and Louisiana State, will be sold out, but it also is only 90 miles from the Tigers' campus in Baton Rouge.

Since the BCS began rotating the championship game in 1999, only one title game has been played closer to the site of one of the participating teams - the 2006 Rose Bowl between No. 1 Southern Cal and Texas, with the Trojans' campus only 40 minutes from Pasadena. No. 2 Texas won that game in a last-second thriller, 41-38.

LSU's only other appearance in the BCS title game was in 2004 when the Tigers, also ranked No. 2, beat No. 1 Oklahoma, 21-14, in the Superdome.

Advantage LSU?

"I guess you could say that," said Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston. "With the game here in New Orleans I could see it that way, but I could only imagine if the game was to be played in Ohio how many fans there would be.

"Ohio State fans really travel well, so I expect there would be a good amount of Buckeye fans."

Each school is allotted 16,000 tickets, which were sold quickly. Yet the proximity of the LSU campus is expected to create a "home game" feeling for the Tigers tonight.

Been there, done that

Ohio State's Jim Tressel has as much national-championship pedigree as any active coach in the game. Tonight's game will be the third time a Tressel-coached Buckeyes team has played for the national title. The Buckeyes lost to Florida last season and beat Miami in 2003. In 15 seasons at Youngstown State, Tressel's teams had a 4-2 record in Division 1-AA title games . . . Tressel and LSU coach Les Miles, who grew up just outside Cleveland, each have Ohio roots, which was the case last season with Florida's Urban Meyer, who also grew up in Ohio . . . Playing in the Superdome will bring more of a feeling of comfort for LSU offensive tackle Carnell Stewart than most players. Stewart was part of a John Curtis (New Orleans) High School team that won three state championships and played in four games in the Superdome. He played his last high school game in the Dome and will end his LSU career there tonight.

Coming to you live

Louisiana State's mascot is a 400-pound tiger named Mike VI. LSU has had live tiger mascots since 1936 . . . The teams had their final practices yesterday, with walkthroughs at the Superdome . . . Tressel was asked about Miles's Michigan connections - he is a Michigan graduate - and whether his team would react to that. "I'm sure if I went up and pounded my fist on the table with our team and said, 'Did you know that their coach is a Michigan guy?' our guys would say, 'So?' " said Tressel. "That's because this game is about Ohio State and LSU. We've had our chance to play Michigan this year and now we have our chance to play LSU and we take a little pride in the fact that Les is from Ohio and he's from the Big Ten."

Mark Blaudschun can be reached at blaudschun@globe.com.