Hurricane Ike forces changes to college football schedule

The most popular Lone Star State catchphrase is “Don’t Mess With Texas”.  It is ubiquitous on bumper stickers and t-shirts and has become a well known part of the state’s pop culture iconography.  Hurricane Ike is not only “messing with Texas” it’s also “messing” with the state’s college football schedule.

The storm, which is expected to make landfall on Friday near Galveston, TX on the Gulf Coast, has resulted in the postponement of the football game between the #8 ranked Texas Longhorns and the University of Arkansas.   It was one thing for LSU to postpone a meaningless game against an overmatched opponent in Troy State due to Hurricane Gustav.  The Arkansas/Texas game is a big deal.

That notwithstanding, it’s hard to argue with the logic behind the cancelation.  While hurricanes are notoriously unpredictable and a chance in direction could make it a non-issue it’s the sort of thing where you have to “plan for the worst and hope for the best”.  Austin is just over 100 miles inland from the coast and depending on the path of the storm could experience significant wind and rain.  Furthermore, Austin is located right along I-35—a primary evacuation route for coastal residents.  It is a pretty logical conclusion that you don’t want to bring 90,000 football fans into the area from all over the state when hundreds of thousands of coastal residents are trying to flee the hurricane in the other direction.

The tentative “make up” date for the game is September 27, but that’s also the weekend of the Austin City Limits music festival.  This is another big event for the community, and one that annually brings thousands to the area making hotel availability scarce.  The festival was intentionally scheduled on an “off” weekend for Longhorn football, and dropping a big rivalry game right into the middle of that could make for a huge snafu.

In Louisiana, meanwhile, Saturday’s LSU/North Texas game is going to be played as scheduled.  There were contingency plans to relocate the game to several locations further inland if necessary, but the storm’s path moved westward and will almost certainly bypass Louisiana.  Baton Rouge officials aren’t happy with the decision, as their law enforcement resources have been stretched thin by the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav but by all accounts the decision was out of their control.  While some officials are livid about the football games going as scheduled, there are others that suggest its “no big deal” and dismiss the complaints as political pandering.