The LSU-Florida game scheduled for last Saturday in Gainesville but postponed by Hurricane Matthew will now take place in Baton Rouge on Nov. 19 after LSU "refused to give up a home game" to play the game as originally slated, according to Robbie Andreu of the GAINESVILLE SUN. LSU was scheduled to host South Alabama on Nov. 19, while UF was to host Presbyterian. The relocated game means UF will "lose two home games" this year, as the Presbyterian game will not be rescheduled. As part of the deal, LSU will come to UF for "back-to-back games" in '17-18. This year's game "will be played no later" than 3:30pm ET at Tiger Stadium. UF AD Jeremy Foley said, "The conference office asked us to find a solution in working with LSU, yet LSU was never a true partner in our discussions." He added SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey "was the key in all of them coming together for Florida," as he "worked tirelessly to make this all work." Sankey said, "Each university had its own set of concerns throughout this process, however existing SEC regulations did not provide an avenue to resolve conflicting issues in a more timely manner." Andreu notes the SEC requires teams to play "all eight conference games" to be eligible to play in the league's championship game. Insurance payouts from the SEC, "along with other financial incentives, will cover UF's revenue loss from the LSU and Presbyterian games" -- an estimated $7.8M (GAINESVILLE SUN, 10/14). CBS Sports’ Brian Jones said, "We know, logistically speaking, they had to get creative. Looks like they did that. Although all parties aren't happy, especially Jeremy Foley ... it was necessary that this game take place" ("Inside College Football,” CBS Sports Network, 10/13).
LOOKING FORWARD: In Baton Rouge, Ross Dellenger in a front-page piece notes the SEC confirmed the fallout from the rescheduling process "is a new SEC policy." The SEC's presidents and chancellors "plan to revise a policy to better define the process for completing postponed or interrupted contests." The statement said that the new policy "will grant authority to the commissioner to determine the date and location of future games that may need to be rescheduled if the institutions cannot mutually identify a date" (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 10/14). ESPN's Brett McMurphy said once UF and LSU had not reached an agreement by Tuesday, Sankey "politely reminded the schools, ‘Oh, by the way, if you don't play eight conference games you’re ineligible for the conference title.’" McMurphy: "Once that happened, once he reiterated to the schools, ‘You have to play this game,’ they reached an agreement to play less than 24 hours later” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 10/14).
WINNERS AND LOSERS: In Gainesville, Pat Dooley writes under the header, "Foley's Final Act A Win For UF." While some people will claim LSU AD Joe Alleva "won this standoff even though he was the one who turned it into a standoff," this scenario was the "only way the game could be played as long as Alleva and LSU were going to be stubborn." Dooley: "And the game HAD to be played." UF in the past week has gone from being "unfairly criticized to universally praised around the nation." The school "stood tall and did the right thing because the other side would not" (GAINESVILLE SUN, 10/14). In Birmingham, Kevin Scarbinsky writes Alleva "stomping his feet and acting like a child" and LSU's "petulance in demanding to play a home game Nov. 19 worked at the expense" of UF and every SEC West contender (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 10/14). USA TODAY's Dan Wolken notes it was a "big win for LSU" and Alleva. However, by "negotiating publicly and essentially issuing an ultimatum to the SEC office, he crossed a line of decorum that frustrated several stakeholders in the SEC universe" (USA TODAY, 10/14). The ADVOCATE's Dellenger writes the "decision was a win" for Alleva after a "heavily criticized past 11 months" (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 10/14). ESPN.com's Edward Aschoff wrote people might "initially think LSU got the better end of this deal and Florida caved." However, both programs "scored victories" (ESPN.com, 10/13).
SOMEONE'S MISSED: USA TODAY's Wolken writes under the header, "Dispute Shows SEC's Loss Of Leadership." Any beefs between member schools in the past were "taken care of behind the scenes, hammered out by former commissioner Mike Slive's firm hand and a culture of collective strength through the sacrifice of individual interests." Slive kept "egos in line and wielded a heavy hammer behind the scenes." Sankey, in his second year as commissioner, "simply didn't have the political capital to twist arms last week and contain the situation" (USA TODAY, 10/14). In Baton Rouge, Scott Rabalais notes if Slive were still the SEC’s commissioner, this game "would have been played somewhere last weekend." Sankey looks like he "got played by Foley, who probably won’t be the last SEC AD to try to work a situation to their school’s advantage while Sankey is in office" (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 10/14).
TWITTER REAX: Many Twitter users were quick to take sides on the rescheduling issue. Baton Rouge-based WAFB-CBS' Jacques Doucet: "Everything Foley said today about #LSU, Alleva could've said last week about Florida. Alleva took the high road, hurricane or not." The official feed of #InAllKindsOfWeather, a UF-focused Fox Sports blog, tweeted, "LSU got a home game against Florida solely as a result of their AD whining enough." AP's Ralph Russo: "The fact that I'm still seeing tweets from fans angry over the LSU-Florida thing confirms my belief that some people just want to be angry." Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Zach Abolverdi noted, "Foley used the word 'difficult' 19 times in his presser Thursday. Most of that was aimed at LSU."
