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Tuesday, September 11 Updated: September 12, 10:33 PM ET Vols-Gators the lone high-profile game left By Andy Katz ESPN.com |
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College football was unable to reach a consensus on whether or not to play games this weekend in the wake of the worst terrorist attacks in United States history.
Dozens of games were canceled or postponed, and while a number of games will be played, the only remaining high-profile matchup is the SEC contest featuring Tennessee at Florida. Football fans headed to Gainesville, Fla., for the game will be met with additional security precautions at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Large purses and backpacks will not be admitted. There will also be severe restrictions on any items allowed through the gates. Authorities says no inflammatory or offensive banners or signs will be allowed. Alcohol is not permitted at college football games, but officials say there will be stringent enforcement of alcohol laws outside the stadium. The National Football League and Major League Baseball have not made decisions on whether to play games this weekend, although MLB postponed its games scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and at least Thursday. The 10 Division I-A conference commissioners talked twice via teleconference Wednesday and decided to let conferences and individual schools make up their own minds on playing the games. The NCAA doesn't make decisions on playing football games, unlike the men's basketball tournament which the Indianapolis-based organization runs. The ACC and the Big East were the only conferences which won't have a single member school playing football this weekend. The Pac-10 didn't want to play games, but two of its members -- Oregon State and Washington State -- decided they will try to play host to Montana State and Colorado, respectively, in non-conference games. The Mid-American Conference and Conference USA left the decisions up to its individual members; some schools opted to play and some didn't. The SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, WAC, Sun Belt and Mountain West allowed their members to play, but a few schools decided against playing the games. Teams that have decided to play games could have them overturned by logistical problems if they can't travel to the game. WAC commissioner Karl Benson said United Airlines told the University of Hawaii that it couldn't guarantee it would be operating Thursday, thus forcing Hawaii to postpone its game at Nevada on Saturday. The WAC had previously announced the game would be played. But a number of schools, like those in the SEC, wanted to play after they were told by the White House to try and return to normalcy. Their interpretation of normalcy was to play the games. "The White House has conveyed to the NCAA that it is encouraging a return to normalcy across the country," Tulsa president Robert Lawless said in a statement after the NCAA's executive committee met Wednesday. "We want to assist in showing the resiliency of the American spirit." Non-conference games of Washington at top-ranked Miami (Fla.), San Diego State at Ohio State, Rice at Nebraska, Stanford at San Jose State, New Mexico State at New Mexico and Cal at Rutgers were all postponed. Thursday night's lineup with Ohio at N.C. State and Penn State at Virginia had already been postponed; the Texas Tech at UTEP game was moved to Saturday. Meanwhile, Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen disclosed that during the NCAA's executive conference call a decision was made that teams wouldn't be held back from playing in a bowl game if they couldn't reschedule a game and finished with a 5-5 record instead of the previously required 6-5 record. The Southeastern Conference's announcement that it will go ahead with athletic competition means the much-anticipated game between No. 8 Tennessee and No. 2 Florida will be played this weekend. The SEC also said that non-conference games involving its members will go ahead as planned after all teams involved agreed to play. "The members of the Southeastern Conference mourn the tragic loss of lives, bodily injury and condemn the acts of destruction which occurred yesterday in this nation. Each of our institutions has been personally touched by these events," the league said in a statement. "After reviewing all of the issues involved, the Southeastern Conference announces that all conference athletic events will be played as scheduled, including the football games on Saturday, Sept. 15. "The conference believes these events present a meaningful opportunity to bring our people together in a common expression of sympathy and mourning. An appropriate ceremony to express these sentiments will be held prior to each game." The league also said its members will donate $1 million from the gate receipts and television fees to funds that will assist the victims of Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the United States. Meanwhile, a Georgia Tech official said that Saturday's game between the No. 11 Yellow Jackets and No. 5 Seminoles in Tallahassee, Fla., is postponed. The Clemson-Duke game also was postponed. "We are not going to play the game (on Saturday)," Georgia Tech athletics director Dave Braine said. "It's not an easy decision either way." Braine told Tech coach George O'Leary the game was not being played. O'Leary then informed his team. "Obviously, the kids wanted to play, but they also understand the pulse of the country," O'Leary said. "Georgia Tech did want to play this game from the president to the athletic director to the head football coach." No decision was made on when the game will be rescheduled, but it's likely to be Dec. 1 or Dec. 8. The issue is Florida State's last game -- Nov. 17 at Florida -- while Georgia Tech's final game is Nov. 24 against Georgia. The Yellow Jackets apparently want to work it out so FSU wouldn't have the extra week to prepare. The Big Ten also announced that it will donate $1 million to assist victims of the terrorist attacks from its games that are expected to go on if travel can be completed: Louisville at Illinois, Kentucky at Indiana, Iowa at Iowa State, Western Michigan at Michigan, Missouri at Michigan State and Baylor at Minnesota. The Notre Dame-Purdue game was postponed until Dec. 1, and Northwestern and Navy announced that they had canceled their meeting; the game will not be rescheduled. The Pac-10's Hanson said the Colorado at Washington State game will be played if the Buffaloes can travel to Pullman, Wash., on Friday. The Buffaloes said their charter group told them they expected to be able to fly by that day. Meanwhile, Oregon State was trying to ensure it could still play Montana State in a non-conference game Saturday in Corvallis, Ore. The Pac-10 moved Arizona State-UCLA, Cal-Rutgers and Stanford-San Jose State games to Dec. 1. The Washington-Miami games will probably be re-set for Nov. 24. The Big East voted Wednesday to postpone all conference competition through Sunday, commissioner Michael Tranghese announced. That includes six football games. "Our football athletic directors voted unanimously to postpone Saturday's games," Tranghese said. "In memory of the victims and their families, our football teams will wear American flags on the back of their helmets for the rest of the season." Saturday's Buffalo at Army game was postponed, with no makeup date immediately announced. Utah is at Air Force in the the other scheduled service academy game. The WAC also said the SMU at North Carolina game was postponed by the ACC. Earlier, the WAC told ESPN.com that it had postponed the Texas Tech at UTEP game, scheduled for Thursday night on ESPN2, and tentatively rescheduled it for Saturday. The Mountain West postponed the UNLV-Colorado State game Friday and the Marshall at TCU game. The Sun Belt Conference said that its schedule was still on, with Nicholls State at Arkansas State, Idaho at Montana, New Mexico State at New Mexico, Louisiana-Monroe at Cincinnati, Louisiana-Lafayette at Central Florida and North Texas at Arkansas. As for MAC games scheduled for Saturday, postponements were announced for Central Michigan at Boise State and Northern Illinois at Wake Forest. Previously announced was a rescheduling of the Ohio at North Carolina State football contest from Thursday to Saturday, Nov. 24. Otherwise, the remaining MAC contests are as originally scheduled, including two league games: Eastern Michigan at Akron and Miami at Kent State. The Pacific-10 Conference moved more quickly than the others, voting late Tuesday to postpone all conference competition through the weekend. Arizona State and No. 12 UCLA had been scheduled to play Saturday night at the Rose Bowl. They will try to reschedule their game for Dec. 1. The Miami Hurricanes and Washington Huskies likely will reschedule the game for Nov. 24 -- a bye week for both teams. In Division I, there were 116 games originally scheduled Thursday through Saturday. Andy Katz is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press also was used in this report.
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