NEW ORLEANS — Game day has arrived and so have the young women and men whose music sends chills up and down the spine of Louisiana State University fans — the LSU Band.

Seven buses and an 18-wheeler were needed to transport the 325 band members and their instruments to New Orleans from the LSU campus Saturday afternoon, two days before the BCS National Championship game pitting LSU’s Tigers against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Louisiana Superdome. Five Teche Area high school graduates in the band have made that kind of trip before every road game ... but this isn’t any road game.

Robert Schexnailder, Kenneth Barideaux and Jordy Saravia, who graduated from New Iberia Senior High; Steven Besse, a product of Westgate High School, and Erica Williams, a graduate of Centerville High School, are part of the Golden Band from Tigerland. Considering the odds of just getting to a game with a national title at stake, it can be a once-in-a-lifetime event for members of any family.

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Except that of the Schexnailders. Robert Schexnailder’s mother, Julie Schexnailder of New Iberia, proudly points out that his older sister, Beth Schexnailder, played piccolo in the LSU Band in 2003 when LSU spanked Oklahoma’s Sooners to become No.1. In fact, each of the sophomore trombone player’s older siblings wore the purple-and-gold of the LSU Band. There’s Patrick Schexnailder, the oldest and a p.h.D student at Purdue University; Michael Schexnailder of Broussard, an LSU graduate who works for Halliburton, and Beth, who went to LSU 21⁄2 years before transferring to study nursing at the LSU Health Science Center in New Orleans.

But none of them played music in the penultimate game of the college season, like Beth did that January night in the Louisiana Superdome.

“I was pretty jealous whenever she did it,” Schexnailder said Sunday afternoon, “but I’m getting my chance now. Ahhh, I’m really excited. I’ve been looking forward to this since I was a little kid. It’s a dream to watch LSU play in the national championship, be on the field and be around the entire atmosphere.”

Schexnailder, who is majoring in chemical engineering while in his second year with the band, and the rest of the band members have been soaking up the atmosphere while staying here with the football players and other LSU-related groups at the Marriott Hotel. “It’s really nice. It’s kind of crazy but really kind of nice to stay with the LSU fans, football players and everything,” he said.

Like any person cheering for purple-and-gold, Schexnailder can’t wait for those four, stark horn notes that start the band’s pregame entrance arrangement.

“It’s definitely one of the best experiences I’ve ever had, playing that song, and hearing the reaction. It still amazes me. It’s definitely an experience. It never gets old,” Schexnailder said with an emphasis on the third-to-last word.

The son of Joseph “Joey” and Julie Schexnailder said he will be in the “S” when the band spells out L-S-U.

Dr. Linda Moorhouse, associate director of the band and immediate past president of the National Band Association, agreed with the underclassman from NISH.

“It puts chill bumps up and down my arms. It always excites me,” Moorhouse said about the band’s first pregame arrangement, “but more it’s the electricity between the band and the fans. The fans and the band interact.”

Naturally, she’s proud of the band members who practiced most of the day Saturday in Baton Rouge. They are dedicated and easy to work with, she said, noting practices four times a week from 3:15 p.m. to 5:20 p.m. and all day Saturday before each game.

“All of our kids are great. They all really want to be a part of the program. The band here is very special. Band members have celebrity status not only here but in the state,” she said.  

Besse, who has played the saxophone since the sixth grade and is majoring in business, can attest to that. The notoriety has escalated as the big game nears, he said.

“This is one time people are pretty envious of the band members” who get into the game free, walk on the field and strike up the notes in the stands.

“It’s pretty exciting for us to go to the national championship during my career,” said Besse, the son of Steve and Annette Besse of New Iberia.

He was anxious to start practicing for the big game. He thought Friday the band would play a “Latin” theme for its halftime show but Moorhouse said later that day it would be a patriotic theme.

Besse, who played during last season’s Sugar Bowl game between LSU and Notre Dame, said he will be in the “U” but switches to the “L”.

“Man, it’s going to be pretty exciting. I thought last year for the Sugar Bowl it was exciting, but this is going to be crazy.”

He noted The Ohio State Marching Band stomps out into its “Script Ohio” formation first performed in 1936. One of the rarest of honors the university can bestow is to “dot the i.”

The 225-member OSU band juices up its fans as much as the Golden Band from Tigerland, he said.

Saravia, a biology major who plays the snare drum in his second year with the band, can’t wait to help fire up LSU.

“I mean, we worked all season in hopes we’d be able to do this. Now that it’s happened, we’re all pretty happy with it,” the junior said before the band left for New Orleans.

The son of Gifford and Paula Saravia of New Iberia said he won’t be nervous in the nationally televised showdown.

“Oh, no, we’re pretty used to performing in front of 90,000 people. This is just a different venue.

“It’ll be a good time. We’ll have a lot of people down in New Orleans, a lot of support.”

His mother hopes to catch a glimpse of him on television, as she has on several occasions this season.

“Oh, God, yes, we’re proud of him,” she said.

Barideaux, who plays saxophone, and Williams, who plays the clarinet, are first-year band members.