The first road trip: LSU

FRIDAY, Sept. 13

3:37 ... The team just returned from its walk through at Tiger Stadium here in Baton Rouge, La.

It's an impressive college stadium with steep stands that rise up quickly from the edge of the field. For 92,000-plus, it feels very compact, probably because the stands are so steep.


The press box feels like you are a mile in the air ... similar to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe.

The grass is so perfect that at first I thought I was
walking on field turf.

You can bet that LSU left the score from last week's win over UAB on the scoreboard for a reason. When the Kent State team walked in, the big replay board beyond the end zone displayed a "Welcome to Death Valley" message. Below it was the score of last week's game: LSU 56, Visitor 17.

Along with the players, a group of 25 guests of the Kent State football team strolled along the stadium surface. Every year, the athletic department invites a group of significant supporters of the football program and senior level administrators to take a trip with the team.

"This is a way to thank those who give to the football program and

let them know how much we care about the impact they have on our student athletes," said Matt Geis, senior associate athletic director for advancement and compliance Matt.

It's great to have them along with us on this trip.






1:31 p.m. ... The firsts road trip of the Paul Haynes era at Kent State is underway.

The team left Dix Stadium just after 9 a.m. for an 11 a.m. departure from Akron-Canton Airport. Players always love when we fly Jet Blue because that means DirecTV at each seat.

Today during the flight, several us watched the Dan Patrick Show on NBC Sports, which just happened to have former Kent State quarterback Julian Edelman on as a guest. While the New England Patriots offense struggled, it was nice to see Julian come up with 13 catches in last night's win over the New York Jets.

The team leaves for its walk through at Tiger Stadium in a little less than an hour. I'll have some more photos from the first look at the stadium a little later today.

There's always lots of food on these trips... Bellacino's sandwiches waiting on the plane for everyone ... Chips, cookies and drinks during the flight ... foot-long Subway sandwiches waiting when we deplaned ... And there's still dinner waiting after today's walk-through.

Ready for take off

The Haynes Family on its first road trip

Radio voice Ty Linder does his
homework on LSU during the flight

Air Kent State arrives in Baton Rouge