ok, so now Florida's AD (who is retiring in 2 weeks) is taking open shots at LSU in the media.
LSU AD is taking veiled shots at Florida.
the media is all picking which side they are on.
so here is my view on everything in as unbiased a way as an LSU fan can be. (this will be a long post).
as early as Tuesday of last week, I knew playing at 11:00am in Gainesville was going to be next to impossible. An 11:00am kickoff means LSU would have to travel in the day before, which would be during the peak of the storm. so i was really confident this option was not happening and should not happen.
by Wednesday this story picked up traction in the national media. Florida cancelled classes for Friday, and the governor began evacuating a large portion of the state. playing in Gainesville at all this weekend was now in question as to whether or not it would be possible.
at this point it was being reported by multiple sources (none of which have been denied by Florida athletic department or media) that LSU offered up several options for the game.
- Play in Gainesville saturday night so LSU can fly in that day and fly out after the game so as not to take up any hotel rooms.
- Play in Baton Rouge any time on Saturday (LSU offered to play in a an empty Stadium to eliminate home field advantage). LSU offered use of LSU plane and busses and also offered to book and cover UF hotel expenses.
- Playas a neutral site on Saturday (allegedly LSU had already contacted sites in New Orleans, Atlanta, Mobile, and Nashville).
- Play at anytime on Sunday in Gainesville. preferably late enough in day to fly in, play, fly out in same day.
- Plat at anytime on Sunday in Baton Rouge (same offers for transportation, housing, fans as the Saturday offer).
- Plat at anytime on Sunday at a neutral site (same sites as the Saturday offer).
- Play Monday in Gainesville (same offer as previous days)
- Play Monday in Baton Rouge (same offer as previous days)
- Play Monday at a neutral site (same offer as previous days)
at 5pm on Wednesday (storm projected to narrowly miss coast and hit roughly 100 miles East of Gainesville as a strong Cat 3 / possible Cat 4 on Friday morning), Florida announces game will be played in Gainesville and still currently scheduled for 12:00am ET kickoff. this was 10 hours AFTER the governor of Florida released this statement
"Hurricane Matthew is a life-threatening category four hurricane and we must all take it seriously. If Hurricane Matthew directly impacts Florida, there could be massive destruction which we haven’t seen since Hurricane Andrew devastated Miami-Dade County in 1992.That is why we cannot delay and must prepare for direct impact now, "
on Thursday, the deadline for decision kept getting pushed back. 9am, then noon, then 2pm, then 5pm.
the 5pm deadline arrives and the decision is "cancelled/postponed, no make up date yet."
30min later, reports from Orlando based writers report that "LSU has refused offers to reschedule game."
this is the point where i started to really get upset about the situation. according to all reports, some even confirmed by Foley, LSU offered as many as 9 different options to play this game. Florida turned down all 9.
but the first reports after the announcement are calling out LSU for not cooperating with rescheduling?
LSU offers 9 possibilities, Florida refuses all of them.
Florida offers 1 option, LSU refuses.
LSU is bad guy for not cooperating.
media does some digging and determines (with confirmation from SEC office) that winning % determines division champ if teams don't play same number of games.
Florida seems adamant to play 11/19 in Gainesville, and have not offered any alternatives to this. LSU offered up options for 10/29, or 12/3. or even an option for 11/12. all in Gainesville.
LSU's stance is that the 11/19 home game is needed financially. $1.5 mil to buy out So. Alabama, roughly $3 mil to refund tickets, and a conservative estimate of $15 mil in additional lost revenue for a Baton Rouge economy that is not in great shape this year. That is a huge financial hit that LSU/Baton Rouge can not afford to take this year.
We're now up to 12 different options offered by LSU and still at only 1 offer by Florida.
at this point, Joe Alleva drew a line in the sand. As the home team, Florida (with assistance from SEC) determines if games are moved/cancelled. they have refused any and all options presented by LSU for getting this game played on originally scheduled weekend. and now have also refused 3 options offered by LSU to reschedule the game later in the year. Alleva says LSU is willing to agree to any rescheduling options as long as LSU does not lose a home game in the deal. LSU has 4 home games remaining on the schedule and is not willing to play any less than that.
fast forward to yesterday.
suddenly a new SEC rule no one had ever heard of exists saying teams must play all 8 conference games to be eligible for the SEC CG.
LSU and Florida agree to play 11/19 in Baton Rouge and move the 2017 game to 2018.
Florida Ad issues this statement:
“The conference office asked us to find a solution in working with LSU, yet
LSU was never a true partner in our discussions,” Foley
said in the statement. “The SEC offered some other solutions and
LSU administration made it clear that they were unwilling to consider other reasonable options.”
WTF?!!?
nobody from the SEC or Florida has denied the very public reports of offers from LSU. some of those reports have been commented on and confirmed by Foley that they were offered.
absolutely zero options other than 11/19 in Gainesville has ever been reported to have been offered by Florida.
Foley has yet to answer why no other options for last weekend were considered by UF. Why were other teams from UF allowed to play and even travel. What options other than 11/19 in Gainesville has been suggested by either UF or the SEC.
but the end of all this, they still somehow want to pin this all on LSU.
12 options offered by LSU
1 option offered by Florida
yet somehow the narrative coming out of Gainesville is
"LSU administration made it clear that they were unwilling to consider other reasonable options.”
seriously, WTF?!!?
how the fuck does this all end up being LSU's fault?
