LSU-Florida game rescheduled for Nov. 19
Published 4:26 pm Thursday, October 13, 2016
LSU and Florida will play after all.
Both schools announced Thursday the teams will buy out their non-conference games on Nov. 19 and play each other that day. It will cost the Gators a home game, though, as the game, which was originally scheduled to be played in Gainesville, Florida, will be played at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The game will be played no later than 2:30 p.m. CT.
Florida will get it back in 2018 as LSU will now make back-to-back trips to the Swamp the next two seasons. LSU and Florida are permanent cross-division opponents in the Southeastern Conference.
LSU and Florida were supposed to play each other Oct. 8 before the game was postponed because of Hurricane Matthew. The SEC said in a statement then it would work with the schools to reschedule it this season “if possible,” but the teams didn’t have a common bye week the rest of the season, leaving the options limited.
Commissioner Greg Sankey recently admitted — and reiterated Thursday — the game needed to be played with winning percentages within the league determining which Eastern and Western Division teams play in the SEC Championship Game.
Both teams have one conference loss. If the game had not been made up and either team finished 6-1 in their respective divisions, any team in their respective division that may go 7-1 in conference play would go to Atlanta in December to play for the title instead.
Now each SEC team will play eight conference games.
“It was important for us to come to a resolution,” Sankey said in a statement. “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. 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.”
LSU (3-2, 2-1 SEC) will host Southern Miss this Saturday. Florida (4-1, 2-1) will host Missouri.