Just received ..It's Official for next Years Kick-Off

Bryan Lazare
TigerBait.com Senior Writer

Talk about it in Tiger Penthouse
It's now official.

LSU will open its 2011 season with a neutral site game against Oregon at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex. on Sept. 3.

 
 
Duck RB LaMichael James
The Dallas Cowboys organization is responsible for handling all the stadium expenses for the game. Both schools are guaranteed a certain amount of money for participating in the game.

"This game is very important to our fan base," LSU Senior Associate Athletics Director Verge Ausberry said. "This is a great recruiting area for us. There is a lot of interest for LSU in Texas."

According to Ausberry, LSU can make a profit of between $3 million and $3.5 million. A non-conference home game against a FBS school would normally net LSU about $2.2 million. Some of LSU's expenses will be covered by the guarantee.

The Tigers will open with a neutral site game for the second straight year. LSU beat North Carolina 30-24 in the Georgia Dome last Saturday. The last time the Tigers played a regular season game in Texas was 1995 when they lost the season opener at Texas A&M, 33-17.

LSU will only have six home games in 2011. So, half of the Tigers' games will be away from Baton Rouge. The last year the Tigers didn't have more home games than road games in the regular season was 1958. LSU had five home games and five road games that season.

"Fans will still have a good home schedule next year," Ausberry said. "Georgia, Florida, Texas and Oklahoma have six home games some years. This is where we want to be. Playing this game in Dallas is what's best for our program at this time."

The Tigers will have two non-conference home games in 2011 - Northwestern State and Western Kentucky. LSU's scheduled game against Southern Mississippi was pushed back to 2016. The conference home opponents next season are Florida, Auburn, Arkansas and Kentucky.

The Tigers games away from home in 2011 are Oregon, West Virginia, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Alabama and Ole Miss. The contest in Starkville may be a Thursday night game. That game comes between contests against Northwestern State and West Virginia.

There were 46,138 tickets sold for last Saturday's game between TCU and Oregon State at Cowboys Stadium. Reportedly, about 7,000 Oregon State fans made the trip to Dallas.