As desperate, last-minute pleas for game tickets go, it had to be one of the stranger phone calls a head coach ever received.

It was from the opponent’s starting quarterback, who knew full well that one of the perks of Ed Orgeron’s job as LSU’s head coach is a luxury suite in Tiger Stadium.

He’d been calling for days — years, actually, and almost every day.

But he was family, so Coach O took the call, right in the middle of doing some advance scouting on his own son quarterbacking the McNeese State Cowboys.

The McNeese quarterback, Cody Orgeron, was out of luck. Grandma Orgeron already had dibs on the Tiger Stadium suite.

It was already a strange film session for the LSU head coach.

“I want to evaluate our opponent,” he explained. “But I also want to cheer for my son. It was a little bit different …”

It will get stranger by the day, right up until Saturday night when Cody realizes his dream of playing in Tiger Stadium — the same Tiger Stadium that was always the dream coaching stop for his dad.

But, even as dad does his due diligence to game plan against a son who’d love nothing better than to pull off an all-time upset against him, the daily phone calls will continue.

“Me and Cody are best friends,” Ed Orgeron said. “So that’s not never going to stop.”

Cody acknowledged that on Saturday it’ll probably be a text instead of the usual daily phone call to what he calls the “perfect dad.”

“I imagine (something like) ‘Love you, dad. It’s going to be a special day. Thank you so much for everything Let’s enjoy this moment.’ ”

Maybe, he said, he’ll look dad up in pregame warm-ups, perhaps a quick selfie.

“This has only happened one time before me … Let’s have fun, go out there and compete.”

As best as can be determined, the only other time it has happened was 1982 when Jack Elway, then head coach at San Jose State, upset a Stanford team led by his son, future Hall of Famer John Elway.

It’s doubtful that the Elways were as familiar with each other’s teams as the Orgerons are.

Cody spends his summers in Baton Rouge, often works out at the LSU’s indoor facility and knows most of the Tigers well.

He usually doesn’t throw to LSU players, but teammates Josh Matthews and Josh Parker are also from Baton Rouge and often join him.

“It’s still a good vibe,” Cody said. “ I’m cool with all their players — we laugh, joke around and stuff. I let them do their work and I do mine.”

It’s worked out pretty well for one college player trying to keep up with his dad coaching another school.

McNeese’s coronavirus pandemic-induced spring season left him free to follow the Tigers last fall. And, even as a first-year starter in 2019, he spent enough time with LSU’s national title team that it’s a wonder he didn’t get a championship ring.

The Cowboys were off the week of LSU’s key win over Alabama and Mc-Neese’s season was over for the Tigers’ playoff run through the championship win over Clemson.

“It was great,” Cody said. “Not as fan (of LSU), more of fan of whatever school my dad was at. It was great to see how much fun everyone was having, really a blessing to be around.”

Who knows? Maybe Cody had something to do it.

He was on hand for one of the seminal moments in LSU football history — that day, with his dad, when Joe Burrow made the official visit to Baton Rouge before eventually choosing LSU to bring his championship mind-set and Heisman Trophy skill set.

“I know Joe very well,” Cody said. “He’s reached out to me a couple of times since he’s been in the NFL. Just any advice I need, I reach out to him and he helps me.”

Meanwhile, LSU’s coach should have as good of a handle on McNeese as any team the Tigers play this season.

The spring season allowed him to attend every Cowboys game — changing his LSU purple for a McNeese blue shirt.

“I wasn’t really analyzing them,” Coach O said.

“He really just came here as a dad,” Cody said. “He wasn’t really game-planning or scheming, seeing our tendencies and stuff.”

Both father and son teams struggled in season-opening losses last week.

But with McNeese’s noon game long over by the time LSU’s 38-27 loss to UCLA aired, Cody had similar experience.

“A little bit,” Cody said. “Kind of the 50-50 balance with trying to see what coverages they use, how to attack it, analyzing it from an X’ and O’s standpoint … and also (like), ‘Come on, dad, let’s go.’ Just being a son.”

All of that is out the window now.

“I really think my dad’s going to tell them to get after me,” Cody said.

“I’m proud of Cody,” the dad in Ed Orgeron says. “He walked on at McNeese, he was sixthstring quarterback, sat in the line, and now he’s one of the few players left in that class. He’s graduated and he’s going to get his graduate degree.”

Then the Coach in Coach O kicks in.

“I may tone down a couple words I use because it is my son,” he said. “But Cody knows, we’re coming, man. We’re hungry. We have distaste in our belly and McNeese is in our way. “

They will likely be reunited next year as Cody said he plans to start his coaching career, mostly likely joining brothers Parker and Tyler as one of many analysts on dad’s LSU staff.

But, of course, with dad creeping toward hot-seat status after the UCLA loss, a shocking loss to McNeese could certainly complicate both of their futures.

“I can’t really get caught up in that,” Cody said. “We look forward to going there and giving them all we got. … Nothing’s impossible in this world.”