Florida AD Jeremy Foley explains why UF-LSU game was postponed
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley held a press conference Thursday afternoon following the SEC’s announcement that the Florida-LSU game scheduled for Saturday at noon in Gainesville had been postponed with no set makeup date.
Foley discussed the conversations that went on between the teams and the conference and explained why the game had to be postponed, as well as why the announcement itself was pushed back multiple times during the week:
Foley felt game could be played at UF when he left work on Wednesday but then it turned.
— Scott Carter (@GatorsScott) October 6, 2016
Foley: Resources available to put on a football game (police, etc) weren’t going to be here; plus, Gainesville was evacuation area.
— Chris Harry (@GatorsChris) October 6, 2016
#Gators AD Jeremy Foley commends SEC commissioner @GregSankey for his role in postponing game pic.twitter.com/CIiCpj49W0
— Graham Hall (@GrahamHall) October 6, 2016
Foley: We have players on our team whose families are going to be impacted by this storm. #Gators
— Chris Harry (@GatorsChris) October 6, 2016
LSU offered to host the game in Baton Rouge, but no options outside of Gainesville were pursued:
Foley said LSU did reach out and offered to host game.
— Scott Carter (@GatorsScott) October 6, 2016
"Not in the best interest of safety or people involved in that trip." — Foley on playing game in Baton Rouge and quick turnaround
— Scott Carter (@GatorsScott) October 6, 2016
Rescheduling the game will not be easy as Florida and LSU do not share an open date:
Foley on scenarios for makeup: We told the league we’re committed to what they come up with with. Not as easy as it seems.
— Chris Harry (@GatorsChris) October 6, 2016
A possibility of moving the game to Nov. 19 has been brought up, when the Gators and Tigers have nonconference opponents (Presbyterian and South Alabama), but that would have to be arranged by the SEC offices:
Foley says potential Nov. 19 date would be discussed by league. Whatever SEC decides, Foley says UF is behind it
— Matt Baker (@MBakerTBTimes) October 6, 2016
"The league will be the leader in those conversations." — Foley on potential rescheduling
— Scott Carter (@GatorsScott) October 6, 2016
"The money is not the issue." — Foley on potential reschedule dates … more about finding date that works for both schools
— Scott Carter (@GatorsScott) October 6, 2016
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
