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Concerns about Hurricane Gustav have affected two football teams in Louisiana, including one that isn't scheduled to play until next week.
National Guard troops arrive in New Orleans on Friday as evacuation orders take effect.
LSU officials moved up the kickoff of Saturday's season-opener against Appalachian State to 10 a.m. Central time from 4 p.m. after they met with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and his staff Friday morning.
Meanwhile, the Tulane football team will bus to Birmingham, Ala., at 10 a.m. Saturday and will stay all week on the Samford University campus as it prepares for its Sept. 6 opener at Alabama.
While Gustav isn't expected to make landfall until early next week – and may not even hit the state – the evacuation of Louisiana's southern parishes was set to begin Friday and Saturday. Traffic patterns for the evacuees led to moving the Appalachian State-LSU start time.
"Public safety was the overriding concern expressed by all parties when we met with the governor and his staff," LSU A.D. Joe Alleva said.
Alleva said that while "10 a.m. is obviously not the optimal time for a football game … when one of the options was not to play the game at all, this is a matter of making the best of an unfortunate situation."
The LSU-Appalachian State game originally was scheduled to be televised by ESPN. It now will be live on ESPN Classic.
Tulane's campus will undergo a mandatory evacuation Saturday. The school was closed at noon Friday and is scheduled to re-open Thursday.
The Tulane women's golf, men's and women's cross country and women's tennis teams will evacuate to Jackson, Miss., and bunk at Jackson State University. Members of athletic teams that are not in-season and regular Tulane students will follow their personal evacuations plans. Tulane instituted those in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans – where Tulane is located – in 2005.
Officials in Mississippi said evacuations should begin Saturday in coastal areas affected by Hurricane Katrina but the game between Southern Miss and Louisiana-Lafayette in Hattiesburg will be played at its scheduled time of 6 p.m., Central.
National Guard troops arrive in New Orleans on Friday as evacuation orders take effect.
LSU officials moved up the kickoff of Saturday's season-opener against Appalachian State to 10 a.m. Central time from 4 p.m. after they met with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and his staff Friday morning.
Meanwhile, the Tulane football team will bus to Birmingham, Ala., at 10 a.m. Saturday and will stay all week on the Samford University campus as it prepares for its Sept. 6 opener at Alabama.
While Gustav isn't expected to make landfall until early next week – and may not even hit the state – the evacuation of Louisiana's southern parishes was set to begin Friday and Saturday. Traffic patterns for the evacuees led to moving the Appalachian State-LSU start time.
"Public safety was the overriding concern expressed by all parties when we met with the governor and his staff," LSU A.D. Joe Alleva said.
Alleva said that while "10 a.m. is obviously not the optimal time for a football game … when one of the options was not to play the game at all, this is a matter of making the best of an unfortunate situation."
The LSU-Appalachian State game originally was scheduled to be televised by ESPN. It now will be live on ESPN Classic.
Tulane's campus will undergo a mandatory evacuation Saturday. The school was closed at noon Friday and is scheduled to re-open Thursday.
The Tulane women's golf, men's and women's cross country and women's tennis teams will evacuate to Jackson, Miss., and bunk at Jackson State University. Members of athletic teams that are not in-season and regular Tulane students will follow their personal evacuations plans. Tulane instituted those in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans – where Tulane is located – in 2005.
Officials in Mississippi said evacuations should begin Saturday in coastal areas affected by Hurricane Katrina but the game between Southern Miss and Louisiana-Lafayette in Hattiesburg will be played at its scheduled time of 6 p.m., Central.