LSU game moved
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Not again: Rita postpones LSU's first home game
ESPN.com news services
A potentially devastating hurricane is delaying LSU's first football game at home -- again.
With Hurricane Rita bearing down on the Western Gulf Coast, the Tennessee-LSU game, originally scheduled for Saturday in Baton Rouge, La., has been postponed to Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be aired on ESPN2.
"After reviewing all of the information I felt this was the best decision for the game. The safety of our student-athletes, coaches and fans is our priority," Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive said in a press release from LSU. "I understand this puts a burden on LSU and its administration, however, the travel safety issues necessitate this decision."
The game, which would have been the first home game for the third-ranked Tigers after the originally scheduled Sept. 3 opener against North Texas was wiped out due to Hurricane Katrina, had been scheduled for Saturday night and an ESPN broadcast.
LSU's second home game against Arizona State also was moved, this time to Tempe, Ariz., because of the hurricane aftermath that turned the campus into a temporary shelter, hospital and morgue. The Tigers -- many of them directly affected by the destruction Katrina wrought on the Gulf Coast -- mounted a stirring fourth-quarter comeback to beat Arizona State 35-31 in that game.
Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer was opposed to playing the game on Saturday, believing the conditions would be unsafe for travel.
Even before Rita started making its way toward Louisiana, the Volunteers were going to have an unusual game day. With no hotel rooms available in Baton Rouge, Tennessee planned to fly into the city early Saturday for the night game.
"We've bent over backward to do everything we can to make this happen including going down the day of the game," Fulmer said before the date was changed. "Obviously, if they're sending people out of Louisiana, I don't know why we would be going in. My [university] president will not allow that to happen. I'm sure the conference office will be on the same page."
Fulmer said he advocated playing the game at the end of the season.
Rita, a 400-mile-wide storm forecast to come ashore near Port Arthur, Texas, or Lake Charles, La., by late Friday or early Saturday.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2169686
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Originally Posted by soccer_dawg9
