BATON ROUGE, La., Aug. 29 (UPI) -- The threat of Tropical Storm Gustav led Louisiana State officials to move up the start of their season-opening college football contest to 11 a.m. EDT Saturday.
The sixth-ranked Tigers begin their 2008 season with a matchup against Appalachian State at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La. The game had been scheduled for a 5 p.m. EDT Saturday kickoff.
"Public safety was the overriding concern expressed by all parties when we met with the governor and his staff," LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva said in a statement after consultations Friday with state officials. "Ten a.m. is obviously not the optimal time for a football game but when one of the options was to not play the game at all, this is a matter of making the best of an unfortunate situation."
There is an anticipation of an evacuation of New Orleans and an anticipated traffic contraflow order by the governor of Louisiana.