Sitting at the front desk in the Auburn University student union, sophomore Marquez Hughey can see a nearby drop box filling up. It's one way he knows that this Saturday's football battle against LSU is not just another game.
"That's for those trying to sell tickets. Auburn students love football, but they love money, too," he said, smiling.
But it's not the only way the microbiology major knows that this is no Mississippi State game.
"Everyone just seems excited," he said. "You can hear the students talking about all the parties and making all kinds of plans. We're getting a lot of calls from non-students wanting to find out stuff like where to park. It's more calls than usual."
Kirk Sampson, Auburn's assistant athletics director for media relations, knows it's a big game because 500 press credentials have been issued, some 150 more than for the season opener against Washington State. Among those expected to attend the fight between No. 3 Auburn and No. 6 LSU are the Washington Post, New York Times and Boston Globe.
"We're full," Sampson said.
Other Auburn folks have their ways of knowing the difference between a big game and just another contest.
Tiger Rags is a store popular with Auburn students and alumni that carries a wide variety of Tiger paraphernalia. Among the merchandise the business offers is a special T-shirt for each home game produced in its back shop.
"People have been asking for the LSU shirt since last week," said store manager Trilbey Walker.
This week's shirt shows Auburn's mascot Aubie cooking an LSU Tiger on a grill. The front says "Today's Special: Feline Mignon." The back reads "Get In My Belly."
"We're doing about 1,000 of them," she said.
And how many for next week's contest with Buffalo?
"Probably a lot less," she laughed.
The ideas for the shirts are decided at a summer brainstorming session, the staff meeting with Mike Lester, Rome artist and editorial cartoonist for the Rome News-Tribune, who designs the shirts.
But shirt requests aren't the only way Walker measures the size of a game.
"When it's a big game like this, you get all kinds of calls requesting a shirt they saw a coach wear or whatever. Sales skyrocket. That includes online."
One fan checking out the T-shirts Wednesday was Auburn accountant Elizabeth Talley. "There's just something about a big game like LSU," Talley said. "Personally, I can just feel it in the air."
Lester also created the Tiger Rags poster with this season's schedule. The Tiger mascot from the poster also tops the www.Tigerrags.com Web site. Lester is the creator of the Buzz mascot for Georgia Tech and is an award-winning and syndicated editorial cartoonist as well.
Click here to see Mike Lester's editorial cartoons
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