The Tigers will take the field Saturday in front of fans decked out in a single hue — at least that’s the plan. The University is asking everyone attending to wear gold to the matchup against Mississippi State for the annual “Gold Game,” which marks the season’s first Southeastern Conference home game. But in past seasons, the “Gold Game” has been a nearly impossible task to coordinate, and several people simply haven’t bothered with wearing the color.Fans blame this on LSU’s failure to spread the message beyond the campus community.”It should be marketed out to more than just students,” said Andrew Seabough, agricultural finance senior. “It’s usually only the student section that does it. When you look around at the rest of the stadium, there’s still a big mixture of purple and gold.”LSU hasn’t played a conference game at home this season and still has several questions at key positions as it enters the heart of its schedule.Students say they support the idea of having an event to unify the campus community. “[The players] really need us now since a lot of people left, and we’re having trouble with the quarterbacks,” said Chris Jones, civil engineering sophomore. “We really don’t seem as stable as we did last year. This game will bring back the unity and crowd spirit that we’ve been missing.”Some students said wearing team colors is very important when watching a sporting event. “It unites us as a university,” said Olivia Saytaformaggio, mass communication freshman. “I’ve always been the one that hates when people wear other colors besides purple and gold, so to have an all-gold game, that’s cool too.”Even though the University sent out a broadcast e-mail, football players weren’t previously aware this game had any special significance among fans.”The gold game?” asked junior cornerback Chris Hawkins. “They call it the gold game? What is that?”Players later found out about the event, and some said they were excited about the prospect. “It’ll be pretty big time with the fans cooperating like that,” said sophomore safety Chad Jones. Junior running back Keiland Williams said he wished the team could get more involved with the event by changing its routine.”Before when they had a gold game, we’d wear different uniforms,” he said. “If they could factor that in again, it would mean a lot to the players.” Some think the LSU tradition grew out of other schools’ events when they would ask their supporters to wear a single color.Penn State is famous for its “White Out” games where the fans wear white shirts, and Georgia will be having its third “Blackout” this weekend when Alabama rolls into Athens, Ga.The Bulldogs wear black jerseys instead of their traditional red home uniform for their “Blackout.””I don’t think it looks nearly as good [as other schools’],” Seabough said. “When Georgia does it, the entire crowd is black, and at Penn State, it’s white.”Seabough said he would prefer if the designated color were purple because he thinks it shows up better on TV. The “Gold Game” tradition is relatively young compared to the LSU’s more well-known traditions, and some said they would prefer to have something different. “Since its still kind of young, I think we could come up with something more original,” said Adam Batiste, general studies junior. “For now we’ll work with what we’ve got. If something new does come along, I definitely think it should be something more original.”—-Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]