New Orleans ? It’s not that the Sugar Bowl isn’t special to LSU. It’s just a visit to the Crescent City isn’t exactly a novelty for many of the Tigers.

Nearly seven in 10 players on LSU’s roster are from Louisiana, many from the New Orleans area. And an 80-mile bus trip on Interstate 10 is hardly a glamorous reward for a 10-2 season.

Yet, the No. 4 Tigers have had little trouble masking any disappointment over the circumstances that prevented them from flying west for the school’s first Rose Bowl.

“The fact that we’re here, I think it’s right,” LSU coach Les Miles said Friday after his team’s first practice in the recently rebuilt Louisiana Superdome. “I can’t imagine it any other way, to be honest.”

As the regular season wound down, LSU had lobbied Rose Bowl officials hard, even securing commitments for more than 40,000 tickets from fans eager to travel to the West Coast to see the Tigers take on one of the best Michigan squads in years.

Southern Cal’s upset loss to UCLA took the Trojans out of the national championship hunt, however, and left them with their traditional Pac-10 tie-in to the Rose Bowl. It also opened the way for Southeastern Conference champ Florida to face Ohio State in the Bowl Championship Series title game in Arizona. The domino effect left LSU representing the SEC in Monday’s Sugar Bowl against No. 11 Notre Dame.