Can you imagine running into the entire LSU football team in a random car dealership parking lot while driving around a small town in Mississippi on a Saturday in late September? That was a legitimate possibility ahead of the Tigers’ SEC opener in Week 3 and it will be possible again this weekend.
LSU chose to stay in Tupelo, Miss. prior to its game against Mississippi State on Sept. 16. It was about an hour drive to Starkville from its team hotel.
Brian Kelly wanted to make sure that his team did not fall asleep before the 11:00 a.m. kickoff. To do so, he had the team busses pull over at a car dealership somewhere between Tupelo and Starkville so that his players could get out and stretch.
It was when we looked at the trip as being over an hour I felt like I didn’t want the team sleeping and falling asleep on the bus. So we found a spot that we use one of our car dealers to make a call and there was a dealership right off the highway.
We pulled the buses and we did our substitution drill just to get our guys up thinking about their substitution on special teams. We did a little light stretch, it was only about 10 minutes, but it got them up but got them alert.
And the idea again, was just to break up the trip. So that was about 45 minutes and then we only had about 20 minutes (remaining on the trip).
— Brian Kelly
The Tigers ended up beating the Bulldogs 41-14, so the unusual pit stop proved effective!
It sounds like the Tigers will implement a similar strategy this weekend before its game against Ole Miss. The team is going to pull over somewhere in Mississippi during its trip to Oxford to ensure that the players don’t fall asleep and get a chance to stretch their legs.
LSU’s team account teased the plan before making the trip.
LSU: “Back on the road. Saturday night in Oxford.”
Myles Diez: “Stretch in a car dealership pls”
LSU: “There will be a pit stop”
— via X, formerly known as Twitter
It is unclear as to where the Tigers will stay on Friday night. However, it is quite a hike from Baton Rouge to northwest Mississippi, so they will likely stay overnight at a hotel. Tupelo is about an hour from Oxford, so it could be the same place as before. Maybe not.
Either way, LSU will pull over somewhere in the Magnolia State to stretch before continuing on to Ole Miss. Kelly found something that works and he is going to keep with the new stretching tradition.
If you happen to be driving in northeast Mississippi on Saturday and see the Tigers stretching on the side of the road, don’t be alarmed!