Jamming to the PA at Tiger Stadium, where the soundtrack has thus far included the White Stripes, MIA, Phil Colins (guess what song!), Nirvana and other head-nodders. Just not as cool as the soundtrack for Les Miles’ little corner of the Internet.

Let’s roll — and let’s try to stay dry. I say that because, well, you tell me …

That was the way the sky looked when I arrived in the parking lot. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it all the way to the stadium without getting soaked.

Fortunately I did — with an umbrella … and a spare T-shirt/dress shirt combo — and got situated in my seat. The view then? 

I know what you’re thinking and you’re probably right: Advantage, WVU. At the least, a wet track minimizes LSU’s speed on defense and probably plays a little into WVU’s passing game. Realistically, unless it’s a in-game downpour, it’s not a terribly significant factor. Plus, you’ve been here before.

The walk in was pretty cool, though. The tailgate reputation is earned and deserved.

This is outside the Maravich Center, directly across from the Tiger Stadium. Festive pregame jazz concert. Open container laws do not apply.

There’s also a tiger habitat for “Mike VI” that people can’t get enough of. Handsome cat. Oh, and there’s a sign that prohibits pets from being in the vicinity. I’m a little troubled a live tiger is so volatile it cannot be trusted with a pet in its neighborhood.

Not a great picture, but I think it’ll give you an idea of the extremes to which these people take their pregaming. Check out the building in the background on the right. It’s a good distance away, right? There’s nothing between that building and where I was standing other than tailgates.

The stadium is what we thought it was. It’s immense. Visually intimidating. I’ve been here before and it’s still striking. You can tell expansion has been outward and especially upward. I ran into a buddy from Osbourh High, Adam Russel, who had not seen the stadium before. He noted how Mountaineer Field is sunken into the ground. Tiger Stadium is not. Good point. And for that, it’s massive and, again, a little intimidating. Very cool.

Show me something more awesome than that in college football today.

Keep an eye on passes and routes in the back of the end zone tonight. It’s the old school “H” goalpost. Florida State and Washington State are the only others who have this today. I can’t imagine WVU prepared for this — or that it was necessary to do so — but I can easily imagine it being something that can catch an opponent totally off guard right in the middle of a play.

With the eye, the numbers, the goalposts and the purple and gold, it’s just a really neat looking place. I like it. One bummer? It’s an open-air press box and I have a feeling that’s going to be a factor here shortly.

6:09 pm EST: Rain!

6:27 pm: The Mountaineers set their alarms. WVU is in the building and, by my estimation, an hour earlier than normal.

7:05 pm: WVU is messing around on the field — Eu loosens up wearing a baseball cap on backward, the longsnappers are doing two-handed overhead “snaps” — and there aren’t many people in the stadium. A few WVU staffers are walking along the perimeter of the field and they made the mistake of passing the student section. “Tiger bait” chants rained upon the staffers and a bunch of the players stopped what they were doing. I think they thought it was pretty funny.

7:08 pm: Pat Lazear is warming up. His left knee is wrapped and braced, but he’s giving people the “ok” sign as he runs through shorts bursts and cuts.

7:10 pm: Brandon Hogan is in uniform, as well.

7:14 pm: Eu and Brad Starks are throwing passes, easily 40 or so yards away from one another, and Starks can still move it. No one is catching the passes for Eu … and he’s one-handing almost everything, which would begood if he was doing that with his left hand, which he is not.

7:18 pm: Tyler Urban is now catching passes from — and throwing passes to — Eu.

7:21 pm: Seriously, who let me program the playlist here? Tremendous music. They’re playing “Drop the World.” Censored. Pretty fun. Also, Louisiana loves Lil Wayne.

7:26 pm: Remember that little mention of the “H” goalpost? I can’t tell who it is from up here, but someone is catching passes in the end zone and just missed an unfortunate interaction with one of the supports. He’s telling others about it now and they’re pointing at the opposite goalpost. I’m certain they’re discussing it.

7:32 pm: Brandon Hogan will start. And everyone from the injury report except Josh Jenkins is dressed.

7:38 pm: Times like this make me kind of enjoy not having a paper tomorrow: Kickoff is now 9:15 p.m.

8:25 pm: Just dug through some notes: WVU hasn’t beaten a ranked team on the road since 2007 (28-23 at No. 21 Cincinnati), hasn’t played a ranked non-conference opponent since 2004 (beat No. 21 Maryland 19-16 in overtime), hasn’t played a ranked non-conference opponent on the road since 2002 (lost at No. 25 Wisconsin, 34-17) and hasn’t beaten a ranked non-conference opponent on the road since 1988 (beat No. 16 Pitt, 31-10).

8:28 pm: LSU is batting about .925 with its pregame audio/video production. Impressive.

8:34 pm: Conditions couldn’t be better, by the way. I didn’t want to say this earlier and freak anyone out, but the wind was severe before. It’s calmed down appreciably.

8:36 pm: No Will Clarke. Just saw him in a T-shirt in the defensive huddle. I’m guessing warmups didn’t go well. Julian Miller is dressed, though.

8:40 pm: Just a FYI before we begin tonight. I’m going to be pretty light on the blog during the game because I do want to file for the Internet when the game ends. Also, the wireless is spotty here. LSU’s IT guy is a busy man, but I’m optimistic. His joints are so well put together.

8:43 pm: Uhoh. Tiger Stadium PA — he actually introduced himself; I will now — welcomed the Mountaineers from “the University of West Virginia.”

9:17 pm: I’m tapping out. Too many Internet issues to mess with here.

9:21 pm: … or not. FYI, game is on ESPN3.com.

9:36 pm: Did we overhype Peterson?

9:51 pm: Turnovers are even, points are not. And what of WVU’s depth at RB behind Noel?

9:54 pm: From above, WVU created a large hole on that kickoff return, but LSU is very fast.

10:10 pm: That may be the last we see of Gregg Pugnetti. Neither punt was very good. Patrick Peterson is, as you can see, very good. Do or die time for WVU.

10:40 pm: Despite a few things that would suggest the contrary, the game isn’t over. WVU figured some things out and can organize at halftime after the the cards were scattered in the first half. Oh, and that punt return by Peterson? Hasn’t happened against WVU in a long time. Here’s the last one an opponent brought back.