LSU verses Florida 2016 Game to be Played in Baton Rouge

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

A petty war of words through the media over a postponed SEC football game due to inclement weather from Hurricane Matthew was deescalated on Thursday when LSU (3-2, 2-1) and Florida (4-1, 2-1) agreed to makeup the missing conference game in Baton Rouge.

Fan bases for both the Gators and the Tigers tangled online and in chatrooms over the missing Oct. 8 game with each side enraged over not being able to play the other. Fingers initially were pointed more directly to Florida’s athletic department over the cancellation without a prepared makeup date. In subsequent days, LSU athletic director Joe Alleva postured that he would not give up a home game this year by traveling to Florida to play the Gators despite the original schedule, a comment that ignited flames for the Gator faithful.

After all the talk, LSU may have won the day forcing Florida to come to Death Valley this year, but now must play in Gainesville in back-to-back seasons, 2017 and 2018. The rescheduled came is to be played on Nov. 19. LSU is scrapping a non-conference game against South Alabama while Florida drops Presbyterian. Both schools are using cancellation clauses within their respective contracts to wiggle out of the essentially meaningless non-conference games.

LSU’s resistance to play in Gainesville this year has been made public by both SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley. Foley spoke out about the negotiations on game site and date stating, “We made this decision to play the game in Baton Rouge. The conference office asked us to find a solution in working with LSU, yet LSU was never a true partner in our discussions. The Southeastern Conference offered some other solutions and the LSU administration made it clear that they were unwilling to consider other reasonable options.”

All SEC teams must play eight conference games or forfeit an opportunity to play in the SEC Championship Game. Both teams still have a shot at winning their respective divisions with the Gators having an easier path at making it to Atlanta tied with Tennessee atop the East. LSU has a loss to Auburn and still must play Ole Miss, Alabama, Arkansas, then Florida, followed by Texas A&M to finish their season.

An exact kickoff time for the now- Florida vs. LSU game has not been announced.

Photo credit: gatorcountry.com; No. 7 Leonard Fournette finds room to run against Florida.