For better or worse, LSU students won’t be watching their Tigers play football anymore this semester.Saturday marks the first weekend fans will have to themselves with no LSU football game since LSU’s Oct. 4 bye week. With the Tigers coming off a two-game season-ending losing streak and a 7-5 record, that may be a good thing.”I’m almost glad,” said Jarrod Bourgeois, finance sophomore. “I was so tired of seeing all those losses. I [couldn’t] care less about the bowl game.”LSU’s performance on the gridiron isn’t the only reason students are happy for the break. This weekend is also the final weekend of the semester — the last chance to study before final exams.Stefan Pitre, architecture senior, said the weekend without football will hopefully give him some much needed time to prepare for finals.”I’ve been pretty busy with school, so [LSU football] hasn’t really been a concern since the ‘Bama game,” he said. “This week, especially, I’ll be grateful for the extra studying hours. It was fun while it lasted, but I’m ready for the semester to be over, so … I guess football has to be over.”Students have plenty of other ways they can spend their weekend off. Bourgeois said he now has time to go home to New Orleans. Abby Raaphorst, natural resource ecology management freshman, said she would have time to go to a Christmas party in New Orleans without a game to attend or watch.”I’m upset, but at the same time I have more ‘me time’ now,” she said.Erin Van Geffen, economics freshman, won’t be as glad as some of her peers.”I’m kind of sad,” she said. “I like tailgating, and I like going to the games. We didn’t have the greatest season, but whatever — it’s still fun. I’d rather be out there tailgating.”Perhaps the fans with the most to gain from the end of football season are the members of Tiger Band. Emily Eck, psychology junior and trumpet player for the band, said not playing on Saturdays will free up her weekends.”Depending what the game is, you can be busy all Saturday,” she said. “I have a lot of free time now, and on the weekend I have a lot of free time, and I don’t have to focus on obligations with Tiger Band. My friends and I more or less celebrated the last home game because I’m going to have a little bit more freedom in choosing what I want to do.”Some fans will undoubtedly spend the weekend watching football — just not LSU. The Tigers may not have made it back to Atlanta for the Southeastern Conference   championship game, but this year’s matchup may be the biggest in the game’s history. No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Florida will play in a game that will almost certainly determine half of this season’s BCS National Championship matchup.Tyler Seneca, Pitre’s friend and fellow architecture senior, said he will likely watch the title bout, despite the Tigers’ absence.”I really need extra time to work on my stuff, but I’ll probably still watch the Florida-‘Bama game,” he said. “That’s going to be a huge game.”
 
 
 
—- Contact David Helman at [email protected]