Damage To Stadium, Campus Leads To Troy-LSU Game Postponement
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Damage To LSU Campus From Hurricane Gustav
Forces Postponement Of Game Against Troy |
Saturday's scheduled Troy-LSU football game has been postponed until November 15 due to the "condition of Tiger Stadium and the LSU campus" in the wake of Hurricane Gustav, according to Andy Rosetta of the Baton Rouge ADVOCATE. LSU's campus "incurred several pockets of major damage," and the interior of Tiger Stadium "absorbed a notable series of blows." Rosetta notes "several seats on the west side of the stadium were damaged and the 200- and 300-level club seats were particularly hard hit, with several awnings ripped away." And while the natural grass surface "was also victimized with several gashes and divots from debris," the stadium's "overriding problem ... was as of Wednesday there was no power and no guarantee it would be restored by Saturday and be reliable for the game." LSU AD Joe Alleva: "The city of Baton Rouge is in too bad a shape to take resources away to play a football game" (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 9/4).
Logistically Impossible: LSU student newspaper The Daily Reveille writer Amy Brittain: “There were three key reasons that the game was postponed. First of all, (no) electricity. ... Secondly, tree damage (and) road blockages. You’re talking logistically getting in 100,000 people around this campus and I just don’t think that can be done with street lights out and tree branches down. Third, the class schedule -- they cancelled class until Monday, at least. If you can’t have class here Friday, how can you justify having a football game the next day?” (“College Football Live,” ESPN, 9/3). Alleva: "We don't know when power will be back in Tiger Stadium. There are too many variables involved to risk maintaing the schedule for our game. Security at the game is also an issue. State troopers and sheriff's deputies have other things to worry about than a game." Alleva added that "the option of moving the game to Monday night was not discussed, but playing the game in the Superdome was discussed briefly." Alleva: "We looked into some other options, but they weren't realistic and not feasible in many ways, logistically and financially" (NOLA.com, 9/3).
HANNA EFFECTING OTHER GAMES: Tropical Storm Hanna, which is expected to reach land near the Carolinas Saturday, has led Coastal Carolina to move its Saturday football game against Colgate Univ. (CU) to 1:00pm Sunday. Athletic officials "decided to delay the game for a day to give [CU] time to make it safely to South Carolina and for the storm to move away." Meanwhile, Charleston Southern "has moved its Saturday home game to opponent" Wofford's stadium in Spartanburg, South Carolina (AP, 9/3).
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