After some debate, the LSU–Florida game has been rescheduled
The LSU–Florida game originally canceled due to Hurricane Matthew has been rescheduled for Saturday, Nov. 19, the SEC announced Thursday.
The Tigers and Gators will play in Baton Rouge after the schools decided to buy out of their respective non-conference games against South Alabama and Presbyterian.
There was debate about whether the game would be played this season, as well as which school would host. The matter has been settled after the parties agreed for LSU to travel to Florida in consecutive seasons, in 2017 and 2018. This year’s game was originally scheduled to take place in Gainesville, and next year‘s in Baton Rouge.
“It was important for us to come to a resolution. Each university had its own set of concerns throughout this process, however existing SEC regulations did not provide an avenue to resolve conflicting issues in a more timely manner,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement. “As I have repeatedly said, this game needed to be played. In the end, I want to give credit to the University of Florida for making concessions to move this year's game to Baton Rouge.”
Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley took a shot at LSU through the media on Thursday, saying the Tigers were “never a true partner” in discussions.
The conference release stated that existing policy will be revised to “better define the process for completing postponed or interrupted contests and to grant authority to the Commissioner to determine the date and location of future games that may need to be rescheduled if the two involved institutions cannot mutually identify a date.”
SEC regulations require all teams to play eight conference games per season to be eligible for divisional titles and to play in the SEC title game. Had the game not been rescheduled, neither LSU nor Florida would have been able to participate.
Florida is 4–1 and ranked No. 18 entering Saturday’s game at home against Missouri. LSU is 3–2 and hosts Ole Miss on Saturday.
