There are hundreds of thousands of fans across the Southeast who hop in their cars each fall Saturday morning to travel to see their favorite SEC team play.

It takes dedication. It’s what true fanatics do to support their team.

If driving an hour or two takes dedication, the journey that Toby Wilcox is embarking on this fall is well beyond the normal scope of fandom. When LSU takes on Alabama in Baton Rouge on Nov. 3, he’ll be at Tiger Stadium in purple and gold. But Wilcox won’t be road-tripping or even making a cross-country flight to get there.

He’ll fly in from London. That’s right. London.

Wilcox is checking an item off his bucket list in the best way possible. He tweeted out his excitement about getting to see his first ever college football game in person.

Wilcox, who hails from Birmingham in the Midlands, will make the trip with his mother and his friend Phil. They’ll fly into New Orleans to stay for 10 days (Technically, they’ll road trip from there to Baton Rouge on game day). The trip will cost him an estimated $3,800, or as they say across the pond, £3,000. That’s pounds, folks.

So why shell out nearly 4 grand to see a football game?

“I’ve wanted to see LSU for the last 2 years since as it looks like a fantastic time,” Wilcox wrote in an email.

Wilcox might be a first-time visitor to LSU, but he’s not a first-time visitor to the U.S. This will be his third trip to the states.

His LSU fandom began in 2016 when he took a trip to New Orleans to see his first (American) football love, the New Orleans Saints. While at a bar in New Orleans, he caught part of an LSU game. He saw locals dressed in purple and gold, and couldn’t help but appreciate their passion.

Just like that, he was hooked.

“I didn’t know too much about college football at that point so it seemed like a logical choice of a team to support as I was already a Saints fan,” Wilcox wrote.

Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

It’s easy to be a fan of LSU when you’re immersed in it in Louisiana. As for maintaining diehard status in the U.K., that’s a different challenge. The NFL is taking off in popularity with its annual games in London, but college football isn’t on that level yet.

Wilcox watches whatever LSU games are aired on a channel called “BT Sport.” When he doesn’t have a means to watch games live, he catches highlights on YouTube.

But seeing it in a local bar or on T.V. didn’t satisfy his itch. Getting the full Tiger Stadium experience in person was the only way that was going to happen.

“As soon as we saw that LSU would be playing Alabama the same weekend the Saints are playing the Rams it was a no-brainer really,” Wilcox said.

Wilcox’s epic football weekend is sure to be a memorable one.

Surely he’s not the only LSU fan with Nov. 3 circled on the calendar. The rivalry showdown is already getting plenty of buildup with the arrival of Ohio State quarterback transfer Joe Burrow in Baton Rouge. The cheapest ticket for Alabama-LSU on Stubhub is north of $140, with lower-level seats going for upwards of $500. But to take in arguably the best atmosphere in college football against the defending national champs, money ain’t a thing.

There’s one more key question that I had to ask Wilcox about his upcoming trip. LSU fans know what I’m getting at.

Is this the year that the Tigers end the 7-year losing streak to Alabama?

“Definitely!” Wilcox wrote. “They can’t keep losing to them forever.”

If that happens, Wilcox will have a whole bunch of future trips to Baton Rouge to plan.