Columbia, S.C. – To imagine the chaos Hurricane Katrina has wrought across football in the deep South, don’t look at the patchwork roof of the Louisiana Superdome. Don’t imagine scenarios for Tulane’s home season or the site of the next Sugar Bowl.
Picture Florida’s locker room Tuesday and the thoughts going through the head of safety Deshawn Carter. He’s from Hammond, La., halfway between storm-ravaged New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Katrina hit Louisiana on Monday morning. He hadn’t heard a word from any family member as of Tuesday night.
“He was a mess,” Florida coach Urban Meyer said. “He broke down a little bit. He said, ‘I’m the one person when they get a chance to call, they call me.”‘
Carter heard from them Wednesday morning and they’re fine. Others haven’t been so lucky. Tulane, New Orleans’ only college football team, has a locker room full of nervous players, suddenly away from homes they’re not sure still exist.
Brandon Spincer couldn’t reach his brother in New Orleans, quarterback Lester Ricard of Denham Springs, La., couldn’t find his uncle and receiver Kenneth Guidroz of Port Sulphur, La., was trying to find his family after hearing his uncle was rescued from a roof.
At Louisiana State, tailback Shyrone Carey from New Orleans, tight end Mit Cole from Picayune, Miss., and fullback Steve Korte from Mandeville, La., couldn’t find family members through Tuesday night.
“We’ve got a bunch of kids who know they won’t have homes to return to,” LSU spokesman Michael Bonnette said. “There is no way to communicate. We have kids who don’t know if their families are alive or dead.”
They were among the fortunate to make contact with lost family members Wednesday.
Central Florida sophomore receiver Javid James wasn’t among them. His family moved from New Orleans to Orlando, Fla., not far from his campus, two weeks ago. However, his 18-year-old sister, Tahirah, drove back to New Orleans on Saturday to celebrate her birthday with friends.
By the time Katrina hit full force, Tahirah was too entrenched to return. She hasn’t been heard from since. James ran onto the field at South Carolina on Thursday night, on national TV, without knowing if his sister was alive.
Until everyone finds their loved ones, the colossal problems of piecing together Tulane’s season and how the Sugar Bowl fits in the BCS will be on the back burner. In the meantime, Tulane has become college football’s vagabond. First, it moved its practices to Jackson State. Then the storm moved east and the Green Wave moved Tuesday to Dallas. The team is sharing practice facilities there with Southern Methodist, which hosts Tulane Sept. 24.
The Green Wave’s opener Saturday at Southern Mississippi was moved to Nov. 26 but it appears the school won’t even be able to hold classes this semester. Its rival schools in Conference USA have offered to allow Tulane students to take correspondence courses at their universities, but that doesn’t solve where Tulane will play its home games. The Superdome is its home field and the gray, ravaged old arena may not have power all fall.
If the Superdome is knocked out for the season, the BCS must find a new venue for the Sugar Bowl. Bowl director Paul Hoola- han has told BCS director Kevin Weiberg to wait until Superdome damage is assessed and alternatives can surface.
Southern Mississippi has moved practices to Memphis, and North Texas is scrambling to reschedule Saturday’s opener at Louisiana State, which was postponed. LSU has guaranteed North Texas $500,000 from the Mean Green’s $12.2 million budget.
Through the chaos, however, comes kindness not usually associated with college football. Louisiana Tech players, in the north Louisiana town of Ruston, spent time this week at a shelter to comfort homeless storm victims, and LSU players spent Thursday at one of the school’s relief centers.
Spurrier never close to returning
Florida fans weren’t as angry at Steve Spurrier for bolting for the Washington Redskins after the 2002 season as they were when he didn’t return for the Gators’ 2005 season. Instead, he went to South Carolina, clearing the way for Florida to hire Meyer.
How close was Florida to getting Spurrier back? Not close at all. New Florida president Bernie Machen, who hired Meyer at Utah in 2003, told Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley to make a pitch for Spurrier first.
“I made a couple calls,” Foley said, “and a day later he called me and said, ‘Been there, done that.”‘
If the fans haven’t forgiven Spurrier for leaving, the players have. Florida center Mike Degory said he planned on watching Thursday night’s Central Florida-South Carolina game. He swears he would not have a Steve Spurrier bobblehead doll sitting in the blender waiting for South Carolina to fumble.
Degory is one of seven Gators who either played or red-shirted under Spurrier during his last year in Gainesville in 2001.
“I think it’s great to have him back in college football,” Degory said. “He brings a lot of excitement.”
Poll: Most coaches dislike BCS
A Palm Beach Post survey of 37 I-A coaches revealed their biggest complaint is the Bowl Championship Series. But the level of hatred isn’t as high as you’d think. Twenty said they were in favor of a playoff while 17 want to keep the current system.
“Nothing has been done to solve the problem,” said Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, whose Tigers finished 13-0 yet were left out of last season’s title game. “We have used a Band-Aid. You can have all the voting polls you want. Popular vote is not the way you have a national champion.”
Pompous Illini?
Maybe Ron Zook doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into at Illinois. This team went from 10-2 and the 2001 Big Ten title to 1-11 in two years for one reason, according to senior fullback Jason Davis.
“You could see the complacency, people pulling out of practice because they were hurting their draft status,” he said. “They didn’t want to get hurt for the next level, but you can’t play like that.”
Footnotes
They’re expecting a crowd of only 35,000 at Seattle’s Qwest Field for the Air Force-Washington game. If that holds, it’ll be the smallest crowd to see the Huskies play in Seattle since 1977. … So the new Harris Poll is going to improve the BCS’ credibility? Voter Jason Rush was informed that his vote would be withdrawn after it was learned his only connection to college football was that he’s Troy coach Larry Blakeney’s son-in-law.
John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
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Miami machine
Miami plays Florida State in the season opener for both schools on Monday. A look at their matchups since 2000:
Date Score
Sept. 10, 2004 MIAMI 16, Florida State 10
Jan. 1, 2004* Miami 16, Florida State 14
Oct. 11, 2003 Miami 22, FLORIDA STATE 14
Oct. 12, 2002 MIAMI 28, Florida State 27
Oct. 13, 2001 MIAMI 49, FLORIDA STATE 27
Oct. 7, 2000 MIAMI 27, Florida State 24
*Orange Bowl; home team in caps.
