It wasn’t quite December 25, but last Monday was a sort of Christmas in July for LSU students.July 13 was the day the LSU Ticket Office sent away game ticket notifications to hopeful students everywhere, with 2,950 of the 4,850 students who requested them receiving tickets.”This was my first year buying away game tickets,” said Brittany Davis, mass communication junior. “I was able to go to Florida last year, but it wasn’t my own ticket.”More than 1,000 requests were made for both of the road games against perennial powers Alabama and Georgia, as well as a rivalry date with a surging Ole Miss team,The Tigers’ tilt with Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide received 1,550 requests, the Georgia game received 1,250 requests and LSU’s Nov. 21 game against the Rebels garnered 1,050 requests.Of these requests, 650 places were filled for each game — roughly half the number of requests. Tim Messa, assistant director of Ticket Operations, said the tickets are assigned in accordance with Southeastern Conference ticket allotments, not stadium size.”For SEC games, our allotment is about 7,000 tickets,” he said. “The number of student tickets really hasn’t changed over the past four or five years.”All 650 requests to the Mississippi State game, as well as all 350 requests to the season opener at Washington, were granted.Messa said the Ticket Office didn’t fill either allotment, however.”The number of students going to the Washington game is actually less than that, because some students got two tickets,” Messa said. “We could’ve sold more, but obviously the distance played a big factor in that.”Priority points determined who received tickets and who didn’t. Students received 20 points for attending home games on the  2008 football schedule, five points for 2009 away games and the Tigers’ bowl game and two points for assorted non-football events.”I was really nervous that I wasn’t going to have enough priority points because I only went to a few other sporting events other than football games,” Davis said.Another concern for prospective travelers is obstacles of the fall semester. Many students refrain from purchasing tickets in fear that the games will conflict with school assignments.Justin Kirk, kinesiology senior, said he prefers to buy tickets closer to the date of the game.”I don’t know what’s going to be happening, so I just don’t like to buy them in advance,” he said. Kirk said he had enough priority points to order tickets but doesn’t mind paying higher prices. He has been able to travel to the 2006 Florida and 2008 South Carolina games by purchasing tickets using Facebook or other Web sites.”I’d like to go to Georgia, and Ole Miss was another one,” he said. “It’s basically just a planning thing.”—-Contact David Helman at [email protected]