BATON ROUGE - To see the LSU Tigers off on their journey to Omaha, a parade building studio has created the ultimate Louisiana experience by fusing two iconic Southern images. 

Kern Studios constructed Mardi Gras Mike, a 30-foot-long custom-built parade float that combined school pride with Louisiana flair. 

Kern Studios CEO Barry Kern said one of the reasons behind why they decided to build it came from an LSU football game last year.

"I actually came up to a game and watched the tiger walk and said, 'man, wouldn't it be exciting to have some really something cool that kind of integrates what we do for Mardi Gras with the spirit of LSU?'," Kern said.

Like any good Mardi Gras-style float, it will have beads with it; there's even a place to stand on top of the tiger.

"I think the fun of it is going to be when the fans start engaging with it and we have it up there in Omaha, and frankly, I see it being in Mardi Gras parades. Any kind of parade from Baton Rouge to Shreveport. Anywhere in this state," Kern said.

The Kerns are well known for their Mardi Gras floats, but also do work for Universal Studios and Disney. They even had designs at the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans.

Tiger fans who got to see Mardi Gras floats were fascinated by it.

"I love it and the music too is awesome, all the LSU fight songs and the stuff. I hope they play the music all the way to Omaha," LSU fan Allison Blackledge said.

Tiger fans are confident about the team going off to Omaha, or "Geauxmaha", as they've started calling it.

"You gotta have confidence in the Tigers when they play, I had confidence all season in the Tigers. We're going for number eight," LSU fan Rhett Guillot said.

Mardi Gras Mike is being pulled by a pickup truck to Omaha, which should be about a 15-hour drive from Baton Rouge. They plan to arrive there on Thursday but are making one important stop before they get there. They plan to stop in Fayetteville, home of the Arkansas Razorbacks, the Tigers' opponent on Saturday.

They plan on taking pictures of Mardi Gras Mike in front of the Hogs' baseball and football stadium.

Kern told WBRZ that he would see us in two weeks back in Baton Rouge with the float for the Tigers National Championship parade, confident that the Tigers will win their eighth national title.

"With the Tigers' winning history, we hope it won't be long before [Mardi Gras Mike] is leading a championship parade through Baton Rouge!" said Kern said.