LSU’s matchup against Ole Miss this weekend marks more than just the Tigers’ last home game for the season — it’ll be their fifth consecutive home game this season, something that hasn’t happened since 1970.But the players aren’t complaining about another weekend in Death Valley. Sophomore linebacker Kelvin Sheppard said he likes playing on his opponent’s turf, but nothing compares to home-sweet-home.”There is nothing like Tiger Stadium, the student section, the fans. It’s just a whole nother level,” Sheppard said. “This team is all about football. It doesn’t matter where we are playing. We’ll go anywhere and play.”But with only two games left in the regular season, some players may be ready for a weekend of rest. The workers behind the game day scene are looking forward to an even bigger break.”Moving into a five-in-a-row game weekend, it’s like there hasn’t been much of a reprieve for our crews,” said Paul Favaloro, Facility Services director.Favaloro said while the game schedule has taxed some Facility Service employees, putting in the overtime wouldn’t be such a big deal had football season not come on the heels of Hurricane Gustav. He said Gustav’s aftermath challenged his crews who addressed several hurricane-related work orders.In fact, Gustav is the reason for the fifth-straight home game after the team’s postponement of the Troy game from Sept. 6 to last weekend.Favaloro said the workload has presented inconveniences, especially for employees with families. But many welcomed the opportunity and even requested to work weekend hours because, like most jobs, overtime wages are higher than regular wages.With the holiday season approaching, Favaloro said the extra cash works as an incentive for the crews to do the job they knew they were signing up for.”But at the same time, you can’t work them too much,” Favaloro said.It’s a similar story for law enforcement, dining employees, field maintenance crews and even students working to pull off a successful game day. They’re ready for a weekend break but don’t mind earning a few extra dollars during mandatory overtime.Mark Lee, Athletic Department assistant manager, said field maintenance workers haven’t complained about putting in the time. “They take pride in being part of LSU Athletics,” Lee said.LSU Police Department Spokesman Maj. Lawrence Rabalais said he hasn’t noticed it’s the fifth straight home game. But since the entire police department — made up of about 65 people — works game day, he said it’s probably taking its toll on some officers.”It’s understood when you’re hired with LSUPD that football games are mandatory,” Rabalais said. “No one has ever complained about it. But if I asked the guys, ‘Hey are you ready for a day off?’ Of course they would say yes.”Facility Services and LSUPD don’t pay their crews out of pocket to work game days.Mark Ewing, associate athletic director, said the Athletic Department foots the $300,000 bill per game with about $65,000 to $100,000 of that total going straight to Facility Services.”It has become a very large expense for [LSU] Athletics,” Favaloro said. “We continually try to discover ways to be more efficient in managing the process.”The other $200,000 gets divided among event management costs such as setup, traffic control, security and ticket takers. Football parking and ticket income fund the expenses.While the Athletic Department pays for all LSUPD, state police, sheriff’s office game day services and part of the Baton Rouge Police Department’s security, LSU Dining pays their employees directly come game day.”It’s another day of business for us,” said David Heidke, LSU Dining director. “We work as hard as we can to minimize the overtime. But sometimes it’s hard to not end up with overtime costs.”They’ve felt the sting during the past four weeks with what Heidke called a “long-haul” that’s wearing on his staff. He said their Union catering group, which is composed mostly of student workers, and concession staff are particularly worn out. “But they’ve not said anything to me,” Heidke said. “There’s no doubt that I think that they all would’ve enjoyed a weekend off.”Favaloro said his staff has done an impressive job starting at 4 a.m. on Saturdays. And on Sunday mornings, grounds crew and building services employees start the cleanup process with inmates and contracted laborers usually lasting from 6 a.m. until 3 p.m.Favaloro said 120 to 150 people work to clear gameday trash. A group of unassuming students also help pick up trash after games and will earn about $6,600 by the end of the semester for their efforts.Matthew McGeachy, pre-veterinary animal science senior, serves as president of the LSU Pre-Vet club and said it’s mandatory each of the 83 members participate in at least two cleanups, to help offset the cost for a bus trip to one of the nation’s major vet schools.The club gets $2,500 for cleaning up the bowl section of the stadium and $800 for the upper deck. He said they’ve already cleaned the West Upper deck twice and the bowl once. McGeachy said cleaning up carries rewards in more ways than one.”We always find money, so that’s a plus,” McGeachy said. “Clothes are always left. Jackets, sweatshirts, cell phones. You name it, it’s probably in there.”—-Contact Natalie Messina at [email protected]