College Football Poll, Hurricane Katrina Could Postpone Some Games

Hurricane Katrina Could Postpone Some Games
Updated 8/29/05 4:38am edt
by Mike Mitchell

As Hurricane Katrina bears down on the gulf states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle, it's beginning to look eerily familiar to the start of the 2004 season. We too easily recall how damaging Frances, Jeanne and Ivan were to Florida residents last year. We had to evacuate our offices for two of the storms and are just now moving back in to some of our damaged office space. Florida State at Miami, Middle Tennessee at Florida and Pittsburgh at South Florida were all postponed from their scheduled Labor Day weekend dates.

Certainly, it is possible that several games could be postponed in the wake of Katrina's expected wrath this Labor Day weekend.

Monroe, Louisiana is located well upstate of New Orleans but their home game with NW Louisiana State is scheduled for Thursday night. By then, the effects of Katrina could have college football far from the minds of local residents.

Depending on its ultimate path, Katrina could effect game locations and schools that are located many miles inland.

Lafayette, Louisiana is situated between Lake Charles and Baton Rouge on the I-10 corridor. Their game on Saturday is at Texas hundreds of miles away in Austin, but what would be the state-of-mind of the Ragin' Cajun players?

Closer to home, LSU is slated to host North Texas on Saturday in Baton Rouge. Southern Miss is scheduled to host Tulane (located in New Orleans) on Sunday in Hattiesburg which is only about 80 miles north of Biloxi and the Mississippi gulf shore.

Other games that could be effected include Middle Tennessee at Alabama, Georgia Tech at Auburn, Murray State at Mississippi State and Cal-Poly at Troy. If Katrina maintains tropical storm strength into Tennesseee, as expected, it could effect the schedule of college football games in the Ohio Valley as well.

The problem goes beyond where and when the games are scheduled to be played. Team travel plans have to be taken into consideration and safety of the fans could also be at risk. Not to mention the fact that thousands of people could suffer major damage to their homes, be without electricity, and face the need to protect their belongings and begin recovering.

We hope and pray that none of these scenarios become reality, but fear for the people who reside in Katrina's path. We wish you well.