On the anniversary of last year's historic flood, just last week I praised the University of South Carolina Athletics Department for their handling of the South Carolina vs. LSU football game.
Hurricane Matthew presented the department with yet another test. While last year's flood had an extremely adverse, yet relatively regionalized impact directly on South Carolina, the fury of Matthew was felt from the Caribbean to the Carolinas.
The broad scope of the storm's impact meant that South Carolina's home game with Georgia was not the only game affected. The South Carolina Athletics Department's decision to move Saturday night's game to Sunday afternoon can be stacked up against other models. Comparatively, their work in accordance with the SEC once again comes out favorably.
LSU - Florida Postponed
It remains to be seen if the SEC will find a way to reschedule the postponed game between LSU and Florida, although with the two schools currently in conflict over how to move forward, that scenario seems unlikely.
The competitive and financial implications caused by the game's postponement have resulted in divisive and controversial rhetoric that have overshadowed safety concerns. Fox Sports' analyst Clay Travis said, "scared of losing and falling in the standings, Florida is using Hurricane Matthew to dodge LSU.”
While the impact in Gainesville, Florida, was relatively minimal compared to the devastating effects found on the Atlantic region of the state, Travis' take seems extremely insensitive given how many players on Florida's roster have families in areas where the most severe destruction occurred. Worrying about whether or not they had to play a football game shouldn't have been a priority for them.
Nov. 19 has been circled as a potential makeup date for the game when both Florida and LSU face non-conference opponents, but that would require LSU to finish their season with three consecutive road games and also force them to buy out their scheduled opponent, South Alabama, for 1.5 million dollars.
Notre Dame - NC State
Hurricane Matthew didn't prevent NC State from upsetting Notre Dame with a 10-3 victory, but in all honesty, a Vaseline-soaked Slip'N Slide would have served as a more appropriate venue for a football game than NC State's Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday.
The Vines and .gifs from the wild game make for comical viewing, but that game only vaguely resembled football.
It is also important to remember that hosting a game means taking law enforcement and emergency responders off the streets for rescue missions. In the case of South Carolina, Governor Nikki Haley stressed that the university wouldn't be able to receive help from state troopers.
Georgia - South Carolina
Getting the game moved to Sunday demonstrates a lot of flexibility for all parties involved, but also serves as the best alternative in terms of maintaining competitive balance while being sensitive to safety concerns.
While losing the opportunity to host a night game to a major rival will surely be an inconvenience to Gamecock fans, that seems like a pretty justifiable sacrifice.