Every fall thousands of Tiger fans swarm Auburn University’s campus. They come from near and far to take part in a southern tradition . . . football. Some come as early as Wednesday afternoon to secure a prime tailgating spot. Hundreds of fans line up for Tiger Walk to welcome the players to the field, and then the masses pour into Jordan Hare Stadium to watch their Tigers play.

But what happens around Auburn when there is no home game, or when there is no game at all? What leaves this town so vacant on those lonely Saturdays?

Auburn University students have found a plethora of ways to fill the football void. Whether they take a trip or just head home for the weekend for some of mom’s good old home cooking, students have found ways to keep busy.

Ben Reindl, a senior in supply chain management, has just about done it all while the team has been away. “Don’t get me wrong, I love having the home field advantage, but sometimes away games give you the opportunity to get out of town for a few days,” Reindl explains. “You’re here for how many weeks out of the year? You might as well travel when you have the opportunity.”

This past week Auburn matched up against the West Virginia Mountaineers in Morgantown, W. Va. The drive from Auburn to Morgantown kept a lot of Auburn students from making the trip. “I like to travel [for the games], but West Virginia, 14 hours is a little too far for a four loss Tiger team at the time,” Reindl said.

Reindl and his fraternity brothers set up three flat screen TVs in their newly renovated basement and gathered to watch the game. The West Virginia game is one of the few away games that Reindl has missed. “It was a lot different not to travel . . . But it was good. It was definitely different.”

The weekend of Oct. 18 marked Auburn’s bye weekend for the season. It also left many Auburn students with an empty calendar. Reindl and his friends took this weekend as an opportunity to celebrate a friend’s 22nd birthday. “We went to Biloxi and stayed at the Beau Rivage Casino.” Here, they celebrated, indulged in the resort’s buffet and gambled, of course. “Most of us came out on top,” Reindl said. “We all did good. The kid had a great birthday.”

For the Oct. 4 game against Vanderbilt, Reindl and several of his friends packed up their Auburn gear and traveled to Nashville, Tenn. to support their team. Although they didn’t have tickets for the game, they showed Nashville what Auburn football was all about. “Vanderbilt doesn’t really do the whole tailgating thing,” Reindl explained. “But we tried our best to show them how it’s done.”

This was Reindl’s first trip to Nashville. “It’s a great town,” he said. “Very cultured. You should definitely go.”

During his time at Auburn, Reindl is trying to go to as many SEC stadiums as he can. So far he’s sunk into Death Valley in Baton Rouge, La. and he’s ventured between the hedges at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Ga. “After my trip to Nashville, I’ve got about six or seven marked off the list, and I’m working on the rest of them,” he said.




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