This article is part of the Reveille’s LSU football preview coverage. Read all of it here.
From tailgates to touchdowns, college football undeniably has a way of bringing people together, especially when it comes to families.
But what happens when a family is split between two teams? Especially two Tiger teams? Well, as the Tuten family proves, it only brings them closer.
Interviewed five years ago by KLFY in anticipation for the LSU versus Clemson matchup in the 2019 national championship, the Tutens were the local “divided house” in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Lainey Tuten is a longtime LSU football fan, and her husband Rye, a Clemson University history graduate. The couple has raised their four kids between the two Tigers with the sport being the heart of the family for years.
“I feel like there’s nothing that compares,” Lainey said about the bond that the sport forms between her and husband. “I love college football, you know, there’s just not much better.”
Rye expressed the same sentiments behind the game and how it’s brought him closer to his wife, as well as their children. In 2019, the Tutens’ oldest son, Harrison, was starting middle school, and now as a junior in high school, he happens to be the only standing LSU fan in his family alongside his mom.
After moving to Alabama four years ago, the Tutens are closer to South Carolina, where they have attended games at Rye’s alma mater over the years.
“We lived in Lafayette for 18 years and raised our kids going to LSU games,” Lainey told the Reveille. “Slowly, three of them have converted to Clemson fans now that we’re closer to Clemson.”
This means that the family of six has gotten to experience both Memorial and Tiger Stadium together.
“I think that both stadiums will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.” Rye said. “When you’re in Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night and the death march plays – it’s go-time and you can feel it in the air. And for Clemson it’s the same feeling, it’s like gladiators going to battle.”
Lainey voiced a slightly more biased opinion to Tiger Stadium’s atmosphere, given she grew up in Oppelousas, Louisiana, and frequently attended LSU games as a child. However, she still credits Clemson’s fanbase as gracious and inviting when it comes to tailgating.
On top of being known for their electric environments, each venue also has a history with the nickname “Death Valley.”
While Clemson claimed the name during the late 1940s, LSU adopted it after its 1959 Sugar Bowl victory in Memorial Stadium. Despite the timeline, purple and gold Tiger fans have always been at odds with the purple and orange Tigers as to which stadium is the “real” Death Valley.
“Obviously I’m going to say that the one in Clemson, South Carolina, is the real Death Valley. And I think Lainey would probably say the one in Baton Rouge is the real Death Valley,” Rye said.
Regardless of the debate between the couple, their family will find themselves at Clemson’s Death Valley for the season opener this year.
“I really feel like this season Clemson is going to come out swinging,” Rye said. “Our offensive line is probably the best offensive line we’ve had in the last four or five years.”
Rye positively credited head coach Dabo Swinney’s work to rebuild his program for this season, as well as the new addition of defensive coordinator Tom Allen.
Allen, who previously coached for the Indiana Hoosiers and most recently Penn State, joined Clemson’s coaching staff in January.
“We know what he did at Penn State,” Rye commented. “They had stellar defenses there.”
On that note, the Tutens provided the Reveille with score predictions for this weekend’s game.
“I think it’s going to be something like 30-14 or 30-17, Clemson winning,” Rye said.
Lainey, of course, is rooting for the Bayou Bengals this year and predicts that LSU will win in a close 24-21 matchup.
No matter what Tiger comes out on top, this family will walk home with a win either way as they celebrate their special bond with one another.
