LSU/Florida wasn’t postponed until the last minute because of Hurricane Matthew, and the inactivity and inability of both schools and the SEC to work together to find a solution is creating chaos in the SEC’s halls. With no common bye week, and no clean way to ensure the Tigers and Gators square off, the solution may come from inconveniencing teams in the Sun Belt.
LSU’s AD Joe Alleva does not want to give up a home game at all, more specifically on November 19. Rescheduling the game to that date would mean the Tigers end the season with three straight road games, which seems unenviable.
But ESPN has proposed a solution or two that would involve some schedule juggling in the Sun Belt:
Scenario 1:
- LSU at Florida is moved to Nov. 19;South Alabama at LSU is moved from Nov. 19 to Oct. 29, LSU’s current open date;South Alabama moves its Oct. 29 home game with Georgia State to Nov. 19;Georgia State moves its Nov. 19 home date with Georgia Southern to Nov. 26, which is an open date for both Sun Belt teams.
Got all that? Here’s another possible option:
Scenario 2 is the same as Scenario 1 (LSU at UF Nov. 19; USA at LSU on Oct. 29) with the exception of:
- South Alabama moves its Oct. 29 home game with Georgia State to Nov. 12, USA’s current open date;Georgia State moves its Nov. 12 home game with Louisiana Monroe to Nov. 26, which is an open date for both teams.
So South Alabama and a few other teams in the Sun Belt would have to do the heavy lifting to ensure LSU plays its full schedule of 12 games. However, Florida would need to pay a $500,000 buyout to Presbyterian, who they have scheduled for November 19, in order to get out of that game. Jeremy Foley, Florida’s AD, has indicated they’d be willing to do this to play the game because Presbyterian’s contest can’t be moved to October 22, which is Florida’s bye week.
ESPN reports that the Sun Belt schools would be willing to make the moves, provided there is some financial compensation added to the package. Florida’s annual game against Georgia in Jacksonville is unlikely to be moved up a week because of stadium concerns in Jacksonville, and playing the game on December 3 would force the SEC Championship Game to be moved back a week, which is also unlikely because the Georgia Dome is booked for Georgia high school football on the 10th.
LSU President King Alexander is a fan of the December 3 solution, though the CFP announcement would likely not move back a week in tandem with that, causing outright chaos.
Since both schools must agree on the new date, the likelihood of the game being rescheduled looks unlikely unless the two schools can come to an agreement, which hasn’t seemed like much of a possibility so far.
[ESPN]
