America's bloodiest day
Dozens of games postponed, but SEC elects to play this weekend
Associated Press
College football couldn't agree on how to respond to this week's terrorism, with the Atlantic Coast and Big East conferences postponing games and the SEC playing on "to bring our people together."
The Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-10 were even divided internally — with each of those conferences playing some games and putting off others.
In a conference call yesterday of the 10 major I-A conference commissioners, the group was unable to come up with a plan all could accept.
"I'm sure everybody's preference would be for life to be normal and therefore play the games that were scheduled," ACC commissioner John Swofford said. "But life isn't normal. These are extremely extenuating circumstances and consequently those circumstances have been very impactful."
Among the dozens of games suspended were two marquee matchups in the state of Florida — No. 13 Washington at No. 1 Miami and No. 10 Georgia Tech at No. 6 Florida State.
"Obviously, as in anything, the safety and well-being of the fans and the citizenry are paramount," Miami coach Larry Coker said.
A third game — No. 8 Tennessee at No. 2 Florida — will be played in Gainesville. The SEC said it decided to go forward with its games "to bring our people together." The league said it will donate $1 million from weekend receipts and TV fees to help victims of the attacks.
The SEC schools "mourn the tragic loss of lives, bodily injury and condemn the acts of destruction which occurred yesterday in this nation," a league statement said.
"We just feel very strongly . . . that this was the appropriate decision to make," SEC commissioner Roy Kramer said.
The Big 12 originally announced its teams would play Saturday provided travel arrangements could be worked out, but later in the day, No. 4 Nebraska said its game against Rice was postponed and rescheduled for Thursday, Sept. 20.
The conference also will donate $1 million to disaster relief funds.
The NCAA executive committee, which will donate $5 million to relief funds, recommended that schools hold a moment of silence before this weekend's games.
"The White House has conveyed to the NCAA that it is encouraging a return to normalcy across the country," NCAA executive committee chairman Robert Lawless said. "We want to assist in showing the resiliency of the American spirit."
Nearly three dozen of the 116 scheduled games in Division I-A and I-AA have been postponed.
Only 12 teams in the Top 25 are still scheduled to play Saturday. In addition to Tennessee at Florida, it's Tulsa at No. 3 Oklahoma, Utah State at No. 11 Fresno State, Louisiana Tech at No. 12 Kansas State, Auburn at No. 15 LSU, No. 24 BYU at No. 17 Mississippi State, Bowling Green at No. 18 South Carolina, Western Michigan at No. 20 Michigan, Montana State at No. 22 Oregon State, and No. 25 Louisville at Illinois.
All games involving ACC and Big East teams — a total of 12 — were postponed, with the Washington-Miami game tentatively rescheduled for Nov. 24. Four of the six games involving Pac-10 teams were postponed, including Arizona State at No. 14 UCLA (rescheduled for Dec. 1). Oregon State is expected to make a decision today on its game against Montana State, and Colorado at Washington State will be played if travel plans can be worked out.
"There was an increased sensitivity to what happened by our presidents and athletic directors," Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said. "This tragedy touched New York, Boston, Pittsburgh and Washington. We just felt it was best to postpone all our athletic activities until next week."
In the Big Ten, Purdue's home game with Notre Dame was postponed and rescheduled to Dec. 1. No. 16 Northwestern's home game against Navy was canceled, and will not be made up. Penn State's game at Virginia tonight was postponed and tentatively rescheduled for Dec. 1. No. 21 Ohio State's home game against San Diego State also was postponed, and Indiana called off its game against Kentucky.
In addition to Tennessee-Florida, the other SEC games set for Saturday are Houston-Georgia, Vanderbilt-Mississippi, Southern Mississippi-Alabama, Bowling Green-South Carolina, BYU-Mississippi State, Auburn-LSU, North Texas-Arkansas.
In addition to Washington-Miami, the Big East games postponed are UAB at Pittsburgh, California at Rutgers, East Carolina at Syracuse, Connecticut at Temple and West Virginia at Maryland.
