The game could have and should have been played in Gainesville last Sunday or Monday. Nothing they say will convince me otherwise. But for whatever reason, Foley didn't want to play it right now.
Reading the press releases, you can make an educated guess as to how this went down. Foley had no intention of playing the game at all, until the commissioner informed him that he couldn't win the SECE without playing it. That's when Alleva knew he had him over a barrel.
Spot on....I posted the other day you can bet your butt when Florida finds out they would be ineligible for the SECCG under the 8 game rule they'd play it on Thanksgiving at midnight if they had too. They were informed this was the case and look what's happening...The game will be played.
Statement:
LSU and Florida have come to an agreement on a makeup date for their game that was postponed on Oct. 8 by Hurricane Matthew.
LSU will now host Florida on Nov. 19, with the two teams buying out their nonconference games with South Alabama and Presbyterian. In return for taking the home game this year, LSU will now play at Florida in 2017 and 2018 before resuming the usual every other year home-and-home rotation for the rivalry game. The schools made the announcement official Thursday afternoon.
"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."
The release also noted that, had the game not been played, neither LSU nor Florida would have been eligible to play for the SEC Championship Game because they would have not fulfilled the requirement of playing eight conference games.
"The SEC Commissioner's Regulations requires each football team play all eight conference games in a season in order to be eligible to compete for a divisional title and play in the SEC Championship Game," said the SEC in the release. "Had the game not been rescheduled, Florida and LSU would have been ineligible to compete for the SEC title this season."
This seems to put to rest any notion that Florida was trying to avoid playing the game, as the Gators will now head on the road for what should have been a home game. LSU keeps a home game, which is important for a state university system that's currently having budget issues.
While the Gators agreed to the terms, they don't seem too happy with the decision to take away their home game. Athletic director Jeremy Foley had pointed comments for LSU.
“The conference office asked us to find a solution in working with LSU, yet LSU was never a true partner in our discussions."--Jeremy Foley
5:01 PM - 13 Oct 2016
The game has been rescheduled, but it's clear the drama from this situation is far from gone.
