It’s never too early to prepare for football season at LSU.With 80 more days until LSU’s season opener against Washington, students are clamoring for the school’s allotment of student away game tickets.But unlike most seasons past, students seem far less interested in buying tickets to the Tigers’ season opener.”It’s Washington — why would you pay that much to go see them?” said Trey Lewis, biology junior. “But it’s good to get that out of the way before the conference season starts, and maybe we’ll get some exposure up there.” Returning students have a three-week window to request tickets to the Tigers’ away tilts with Washington, Mississippi State, Georgia, Alabama and Ole Miss. Tickets became available June 8 and will be on sale until June 24.”I requested the Alabama, Georgia and Ole Miss games,” Lewis said. “It’s worth it because it only costs $1 to request a ticket. I can see if my friends want to go before I decide to buy the tickets.”Tim Messa, assistant ticket manager of the LSU Ticket Office, said students can use priority points, gained by attending     sporting events during the school year, to ensure they get their tickets. What day during the window a student requests tickets is irrelevant.It’s typical for LSU to travel as far away as South Carolina or, in this upcoming season’s case, Georgia, for games. But this year the Tigers open play more than 2,500 miles away in Seattle.And if the distance isn’t a deterrent, students may have noticed the $70 price for Washington tickets — $15 to $20 more than for the other four games.But Messa said the host schools — not the LSU ticket office — determine the prices for away games.”It just so happens that’s what Washington charges for football tickets,” Messa said. “We charge what we pay for the tickets. There’s nothing extra factored in.”All these factors may combine to keep students from trekking to the season opener, as Messa said Washington is “far and away in last” for student ticket requests.Messa said student requests generally follow public ticket requests, but that’s not the case for Washington, as quite a few public tickets have been sold.”It’s unlogical to assume that [request numbers] won’t change completely, except in the case of Washington because of travel expenses,” Messa said.The hundreds of miles LSU fans will travel to the Tigers’ Southeastern Conference games doesn’t seem to bother the Tiger faithful nearly as much. Student tickets to games at Missisissippi State, Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama add up to cost $210.”I’m putting up half, and my friends are putting up money too,” said Babajimi Akerele, political science senior. “This is my final semester, so I figure I should go to another city and another stadium at least once.”Tiger fans could travel as far as 347 miles to Tuscaloosa, Ala., and 597 miles to Athens, Ga., for the Alabama and Georgia games — the team’s most-requested away tickets so far.”It used to just be that when I was a kid I’d go to Tiger Stadium if my dad had a ticket,” said Neal Sicard, mechanical engineering sophomore. “Now that I’m of age and have some money, I want to make it to Alabama and Athens and Oxford — those are just great places to watch a football game.”   —-Contact David Helman at [email protected]