Students and fans desperately searching for tickets to the 2008 Allstate Bowl Championship Series title game have one more outlet to try to score arguably the hottest tickets in LSU history. Thousands of fans swarmed Walk-Ons as the Allstate BCS college football mobile tour kicked off the first day of its two-day event Thursday in hopes of obtaining one of 25 pairs of LSU-Ohio State tickets being given away every twenty minutes. The second day of the tour will be open from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday. Fans can put their name in a drawing by visiting the Allstate sign-up tent in front of Walk-Ons. Denham Springs resident Mark Lawrence said he was in "total shock" when he heard his name called for the 3:20 p.m. selection. "I said, 'Is that really my name?'" Lawrence said. "We got here about 12 o'clock and waited in line for 35 or 40 minutes in the driving rain to sign up. I never thought we would win. We were just here to have a good time." Long-time fried Kevin Dowdy accompanied Lawrence and will join him in the 20-yardline, upper deck section of the Superdome on Jan. 7. "People like us don't win things like this," Dowdy said. Lawrence said he has always been lucky when with Dowdy. The long-time LSU fan said he had dreams of coming to LSU as a player, but will settle for seats to watch the Tigers (11-2) battle with Ohio State (11-1) for a national championship. "We hugged each other when we heard my name," Lawrence said. "Out of everybody today, I think we had the best celebration of all." He said tickets, which have a face-value of $175, were topping $1,000 on online ticket Web sites. Lawrence was one of an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 students and fans that attended the event on the first day. Allstate representative John Galvin said only a combined 700 Ohio State fans showed up for a similar, two-day event a week earlier. "We didn't expect quite this many people today," Galvin said. Walk-Ons had to close down because the establishment was over capacity for fire code, but provided alcohol from the outside bar in the rear of the restaurant.
--- Contact Matt Vines at sports@lsureveille,com
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