Rowan Kavner, The Daily Reveille
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New Orleans has been anything but “The Big Easy” for teams playing against the LSU football team.

The Tigers’ last two trips to the National Championship came eight years ago at the Superdome, as the Tigers edged Oklahoma, 21-14, and four years later in the same venue, when a two-loss LSU team upset No. 1 Ohio State, 38-24.

LSU coach Les Miles, who won his first championship as LSU’s head coach in the latter game, said he still recalls the emotions entering that game, just a couple years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005.

“I remember the memories as I traveled the city one of my first times and really found out how important to this city that LSU was here,” Miles said. “We had a great experience obviously; we finished with a victory. The attachment to this city is one that this team really feels. As I drive in again, I’m reminded of it.”

When the big game is in New Orleans, LSU is rarely far behind. This year is no exception as, again, four years later, the Tigers are in the National Championship, this time facing Alabama, which LSU already beat, 9-6, at Bryant-Denny Stadium in the regular season.

Miles said he knew at the start of the season his players were already geared up for an opportunity to play in New Orleans, where so many former Tigers excelled.

“At the very beginning of this year, really as early as when our team voted to accept the Oregon game and play Oregon early in the year, they really pointed at this game,” Miles said. “They wanted to qualify for this game. It was a feeling that the staff, that the team had really all along. For us, there’s no other place for us to play. This is right where we needed to be.”

There’s a special connection between LSU and New Orleans, separated only by about an hour drive.

Many of LSU’s players were returning home when they traveled to New Orleans to prepare for the Jan. 9 matchup, including defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, tight end Deangelo Peterson and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

Senior offensive lineman Will Blackwell, who was a redshirt freshman when the Tigers last played for a championship in New Orleans, said he still remembers the atmosphere four years ago in what is now the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

“A lot of our faithful are going to be down here,” Blackwell said. “If we can’t play this game in Tiger Stadium, the only place we’d rather play it is here.