The season hasn’t even started and already severe weather has continued its recent history of disrupting LSU football seasons.

The devastating floods and the forecast for more days of torrential rain in Houston required that the Tigers’ season opener against BYU, scheduled for NRG Stadium on Saturday, be moved. ESPN, which is televising and in charge of the event, announced Monday night that the game will be played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans and kick off at 9:30 p.m. EDT as originally scheduled.

New Orleans, which is about 80 miles east of the LSU campus in Baton Rouge, is 350 miles east of Houston. It began experiencing rain from the outer bands of the remnants of Harvey on Sunday and that was forecast to continue until at least Thursday, but in amounts far less than the catastrophic ones that have been devastating Texas.

This marks the third consecutive season that severe weather has forced a change in the date or site of at least one LSU football game. First-year Tigers coach Ed Orgeron would be the second consecutive LSU head coach to have his first season opener on the job altered by a hurricane.

Most recently, the Tigers’ game against Florida last season was moved from Gainesville to Baton Rouge because of a threat to the Gainesville area from Hurricane Matthew. The game was canceled, then rescheduled six weeks later amid sometimes contentious negotiations.

Credit: Craig Rubadoux/Florida Today via USA TODAY NETWORK

The schools flip-flopped their annual meetings in 2016 and 2017, so the Tigers will visit the Gators this season, when the teams were originally scheduled to meet in Tiger Stadium. By the way, the Gators beat the Tigers, 16-10, on Nov. 19, essentially knocking LSU out of the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Two years ago, LSU’s opener against McNeese was canceled because of persistent rain and lightning near Tiger Stadium. The game started late, then each team had one possession before a lightning strike forced the game to be stopped. After nearly a four-hour wait the game was canceled and could not be made up because the schools did not have matching open dates. It was LSU’s first canceled football game since World War I.

Later in the 2015 season, the Tigers game at South Carolina was moved to Baton Rouge because of massive flooding throughout South Carolina, resulting from Hurricane Joaquin.

The change of venue was made barely 72 hours before kickoff and created a unique situation in Tiger Stadium. The limited time between the site switch and kickoff greatly hampered tickets sales and the 100,000-plus-seat stadium was more than half empty for the game.

Gamecocks and the state flag for South Carolina fly over Tiger Stadium for a home game against LSU. Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The Gamecocks retained their status as home team even though the crowd, naturally, was composed almost exclusively of Tiger fans. LSU was gracious in trying to replicate some semblance of a home game by playing South Carolina’s alma mater before and after the game. The Tiger fans played along, applauding the Gamecocks as they entered and exited the field.

In the end the seventh-ranked Tigers rolled to a 45-24 victory as Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice both rushed for more than 100 yards. The NCAA allowed Fournette to auction his game jersey. The jersey sold for $101,000, which was donated for relief aid.

Orgeron, whose first game on Les Miles’ staff as an assistant would have been the ill-fated game against McNeese in 2015, was named interim coach when Miles was fired after a 2-2 start last season and is preparing to start his first full season as head coach.

Miles’ first three games as the Tigers head coach in 2005 were altered because of hurricanes. When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans on Aug. 29, facilities on the LSU campus were used for triage and other emergency operations.

So the opener against Arizona State was moved from Tiger Stadium to the Sun Devils’ stadium in Tempe, where the Tigers prevailed 35-31. The second game against North Texas, scheduled for Tiger Stadium, was postponed until October when LSU rolled to a 56-3 win.

The third game against Tennessee was moved from a Saturday to the following Monday because of a threat from Hurricane Rita. The Volunteers won that game, 30-27.

ESPN said in a statement that New Orleans was chosen after discussions that also included Dallas, Jacksonville, Fla., Nashville, Tenn., Orlando and San Antonio as potential sites.

“Efforts are under way in New Orleans and we will work with the fans, the Superdome, the New Orleans Convention & Visitors Bureau and both schools throughout the week to ensure the most optimal game day experience for all,” Pete Derzis, ESPN senior vice president of college sports programming and events, said in the statement.