Florida AD Jeremy Foley explains why UF-LSU game was postponed
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
Good decision by Foley. Family and safety first before football. Prayers to the people in Florida. War Eagle
What BS.
People act as if LSU fans didn’t have to deal with extreme flooding, hurricanes and tropical storms before.. When faced with those logistical issues, they made plans and worked around them including giving up a home game and playing 10 weeks with no bye week. There were plenty of options, but the UF AD sat on his hands and let the weather make the decision for him. Every other school in Florida managed to behave like highly paid professionals. Why not Foley?
He is either 1) incompetent or 2) gutless.
Gutless and incompetent perfectly describe Alleva.
Both? Let’s go with both.
Not sure why anyone would blame Alleva here. He sucks as an AD, but he tried to play the game this weekend. Foley is the coward. Sankey is the weak stick that got played by Foley. The game could have easily been played today, just like everyone said. Foley is a coward. Fact.
Play the damn game on Monday night. Or are the gators chickening out?
You fans calling this team cowards are absolutely pathetic. LSU especially! Because the last thing these gator players want to do is leave their families in the wake of the worst Hurricane to Hit Florida in a very long time… grow up its a f!@king game and Noone is afraid of some bottom feeder from the west a week after firing their HC get real.
Your Gators are on the verge of 3 straight azz whoopings by LSU so if the Tigers are “bottom feeders ” what does that make the Gators? The UF players aren’t scared but the Gators leadership is clueless……
Yeah LSU has won 3 straight but by an average of 7 points so calm down with the “azz” whopping nonsense
I doubt anybody would call the TEAM cowards. I’m sure they’d show up ready to play. The coaches and administrators, on the other hand….Yeah. They’re cowards.
What about the players of the other teams in Florida? What about the players of numerous schools across the country with family in Florida? What about the UF players on the volleyball and soccer teams that played anyway?
That’s a cop-out and you know it.
How the weather going to be inside some domed stadiums in Florida?
What domed stadium in Florida? The only one is the Tampa dome where the devil rays play. There are no football domes in Florida.
No dome was needed. The weather in Gainesville was beautiful yesterday. Gonna be the same today. The game should have been rescheduled for today. Foley is a coward. That can’t be said enough.
So if Florida had an away game they would
Still travel to play right. So the what’s the difference. Should go play at a neutral site. Florida have this game as lose because they could of play and decided not to
LOL Now we know WHY Gator tastes like CHICKEN!! Jeremy Foley must be scared of the lizards getting frog-stomped by LSU
Whaaa, whaaa, whaaa, “The storm.” whaa, whaa, whaa…
FSU and Miami must not have any family in Florida cause theyre playing. Right?
Wait a second… is that true? If so, the whole UF thing is a sham.
Miami and FSU are playing in Miami on Saturday. FAU is playing Sunday. Georgia and South Carolina are playing Sunday in Columbia. Virginia Tech and UNC are playing Saturday. NC State and Notre Dame are playing Saturday…
Yet there was just NO WAY for UF to figure out a way to save their game against LSU? None whatsoever? Laughable.
Give us all a break with the lame excuses, Florida fans. What the football team does has absolutely no bearing on the safety of anyone in the state of Florida, or anywhere else. …Except that, if safety was really the motivation, it would make more sense to move the game out of state, to free up hotel rooms and other resources for evacuees.
Foley is a coward trying to work the system. He was a good AD at one time. Pretty clear that time has passed.
Translated: “Well, you know, we were a little beat up and would have had a problem getting to the championship with two losses. Now it is someone else’s problem”.