A ROUTINE TRIP NO MORE
QUICK TURNAROUND
AT BATON ROUGE
Teams playing at Louisiana State have interesting challenges. With the lack of hotel space in Baton Rouge because of relief efforts surrounding the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Tennessee is planning to go in Monday morning for the 6:30 p.m. CDT game and leave after the game that was moved from Saturday because of Hurricane Rita.
Mississippi State had the same plan when it went to Shreveport, La., for Tulane’s home game, and it was not easy. A shuttle bus from the airport broke down, but the Bulldogs made it to the stadium in time.
“I’m sure it disrupted a lot,” Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom said. “It disrupted me. I’ve been in this a long, long time. You get on a plane and you want to relax, calm down. You do that the day before. I caught myself. I started to relax and then realized, we’ve got a game today.”
Urban Meyer, whose Florida Gators visit LSU on Oct. 15, plans on calling Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer to see how it worked.
“I’m extremely nervous about that,” Meyer said. “Why? Just because you’re creatures of habit and you have your routine. They play in the evening, we’re playing at 2:30, possibly. I’m very concerned about it.”
Meyer said he never has coached a team that went into a town, played a game and left the same day. “When I first became a head coach in 2001, one of the first guys I called was (Kansas State coach) Bill Snyder,” Meyer said. “I admire what he’s done over the years. He made a comment to me that the most important thing you have to do is get a game- week routine so your players worry about their assignments and their responsibilities and not what they’re eating, what time they have to be there. We’ve kind of lived that model here.”
JOHN HENDERSON
