Her accent is as sweet as a slice of chocolate meringue pie and as delicate as silk. To hear her speak, one would think she was cut out of the pages of “Southern Living.”But from the same woman comes a surprising fervor for football. Katy Mixon has LSU football in her DNA. Her father, Fred Mixon, and her grandfather, Neil Mixon, both played football on Saturdays in Death Valley. She said her father played defensive back for Charles McClendon from 1964-66. Neil Mixon played running back in 1931-33. Katy Mixon is now a rising star in Hollywood. After breaking out as the psychotic, pregnant wife of a cage fighter in the 2008 film “Four Christmases,” Mixon landed the role of April on HBO’s hit show “Eastbound and Down.”Her latest appearance comes in the comedy “All About Steve” starring Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper, in which she plays Bullock’s fashion-challenged friend Elizabeth. The movie was released Sept. 4.Her cinematic success has had its negative effects as well. She now resides in Los Angeles, a mere 1,600 miles away from the electricity of Tiger Stadium. She was busy filming “Eastbound and Down” last fall, making a trip to Baton Rouge an impossibility, only strengthening her withdrawals. But fortunately, the football gods colluded to spare her the heartache of another season without LSU football — filming for season two of the show does not begin until early 2010. “I got a little time,” she said. “I’m going to try and make it there [Baton Rouge] for three games.”Katy Mixon was indoctrinated to LSU football early in her life, although the exact timing of her introduction is debatable.”Honey, I went to my very first game at Tiger Stadium when I was 2 years old,” she said. Fred Mixon told a different account. “Katy first went to a game when she was 8 months old,” he said. “We had to haggle with the lady at the ticket office to let her in without a ticket.”By both accounts, her passion for LSU football is unrivaled. She said there’s “nothing like Tiger Stadium.””There’s nothing like when the band comes marching down, when the team comes in,” Katy Mixon said. “It’s a phenomenal time. As a little girl, I grew up in it.”She grew up as one of seven children. The family lived in enemy territory — Pensacola, Fla., within 300 miles of both the University of Florida and Florida State University. “It’s funny being from Pensacola,” she said. “Everybody thinks I’m either going for FSU or the Gators. I’m a Tiger girl.”Neither the southern belle nor her siblings ever attended any classes under the stately oaks in Baton Rouge. Katy Mixon graduated from the prestigious film school at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.But the school on her degree has not fazed her passion for LSU football. “As a dad, it means a lot,” Fred Mixon said. “She’s got that purple and gold in her blood.”Unfortunately for Katy Mixon, no one on the show likes football, or sports in general.”They’re just really not into it,” she said. “I adore me some sports. I love basketball, I love baseball, but I’m a major college football girl.”Katy Mixon’s fancy for the pigskin first appeared on SI.com as Stewart Mandel’s “Mailbag Crush,” a distinction given to an attractive, football-savvy actress each season. She was a perfect fit. She told Mandel she was excited for LSU’s new-look defense under new defensive coordinator John Chavis. After watching Jake Locker and Washington shred the Tiger defense for 478 total yards in LSU’s 31-23 win, she still has faith in the unit. “To be honest with you, I think we underestimated them a little bit,” she said. “I think it’s going to take a hot second for them to get in a groove.”Katy Mixon, ever the optimist, said an uninspiring performance in Seattle did not damper her expectations for the 2009 campaign.”I think they’re a great team,” she said. “We’re going to play Vanderbilt on the 12th, and I’m fired up. I think it’s a great team this year.”—-Contact Chris Branch at [email protected]