“Moreover, we’ve had many in the Carolina family directly impacted by the flooding”, South Carolina President Harris Pastides said in a statement.
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Raymond Tanner, Director of USC Athletics, says they have every intention of playing the game at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, but due to severe flooding in recent days, they are keeping their options open.
“After much thought and consideration, and in conjunction with local and state authorities and with our own University administration, we have made the decision to move Saturday’s football game to Baton Rouge”, Tanner said.
Louisiana State Police have since confirmed that they are now working with LSU police on a contingency plan to determine how they would provide law enforcement personnel if indeed the South Carolina game is played at Tiger Stadium.
“We’ve been in constant contact with South Carolina”, LSU sports information director Michael Bonnette said.
It wasn’t until late yesterday morning that it was announced the game would be moved to Baton Rouge, and the 2:30 p.m. kickoff time wasn’t even set until yesterday afternoon.
The Gamecocks will leave for Baton Rouge on Friday.
LSU will play the University of South Carolina this weekend, but where the game will be held has yet to be determined.
“We’ve been spared”, Tanner said.
While moving a home game to a road game just days before the scheduled contest may be a distraction, Coach Spurrier knows his squad has bigger issues to deal with.
LSU dealt with a similar situation in 2005, when its season-opener against Arizona State was moved to Tempe due to Hurricane Katrina.
South Carolina likely won’t get to make up the home game any time soon, if at all.
Emotions are strong for South Carolina, but there’s only one team students here want to see win.
The South Carolina marching band will not be making the trip to LSU this weekend, but The Golden Band from Tigerland has something planned that will make the Gamecocks feel right at home. Also, in case you missed it, the University of South Carolina has cancelled all classes for the remainder of the week.
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An average SEC football game pumps $10 million into the Columbia economy, according to USC sports and entertainment professor Tom Regan.
