Les Mileserables

For many many reasons, the 2012 football season cannot end soon enough. LSU fans, it appears, have already bailed.

As of this afternoon, about 6,000 of the 16,000 Chick-fil-A Bowl tickets allotted to LSU for Monday's game remained available, says LSU Sports Information Director Michael Bonnette. "We're hoping that as we get closer to game day people will change their minds and find their way to the game," says Bonnette, who arrived in Atlanta with the team on Wednesday.

Very uncharacteristic for the travel-hardy LSU fan base.  But not so surprising considering how badly they were screwed by the bowl selection process. 

The SEC protected championship-game loser Georgia by convincing the Capital One Bowl to take the Bulldogs; allowed the Cotton Bowl to choose Texas A&M over LSU; and discouraged the Outback Bowl from taking LSU (for a first-ever game with Michigan) to avoid a Chick-fil-A Bowl rematch between South Carolina and Clemson. Had the SEC urged the Cotton to take LSU over A&M — the Tigers beat the Aggies and are higher ranked — and sent A&M to the Chick-fil-A, it would have been a more equitable arrangement.

Instead, LSU is left to make its fifth trip to the Chick-fil-A since 1996 and 11th trip to Atlanta in that span to play a game that, despite an excellent matchup, has failed to whip LSU fans into a ticket-buying frenzy.

Can't blame anyone for not wanting to be in Atlanta for New Year's Eve.  But LSU fans have been trying to fast forward out of 2012 ever since the concluding minute of the Alabama game.