ON THE SHELF: Bama-LSU highlight long list of weekend's postponements
Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide will have to wait another week to take the field after the game with LSU was postponed due to COVID-19. (Unv. Alabama Media Relations)
By GRAHAM DUNN
After having his off week interrupted by a COVID breakout, Ed Orgeron had to be asking what else can go wrong.
Then came Tuesday.
The LSU coach, struggling through a 2-3 season and coming off a beating at Auburn, had to shore up an offensive line, replace his injured quarterback and find solutions to a porous defense while preparing for the best team he’s faced all season.
He might have gotten another break that was needed.
The Southeastern Conference announced on Tuesday the game between Alabama and LSU has been postponed to a date to be determined later. It was later joined in the “postponed” pile by Texas A&M-Tennessee and Georgia-Missouri.
The Auburn-Mississippi State game was already kaput.
On Wednesday, Orgeron didn’t shy away from talking about Bama, stating he was ready to go prior to the announcement.
“We want to play Alabama,” Orgeron said. “This is a fluid deal. I’m happy to play them. Whoever they tell us to play, we will be ready to play.”
The situation for the two teams to play is made difficult due to LSU already having a game scheduled with Florida on the Dec. 12, the date set by the conference for makeup games.
Dec. 19 (SEC Championship Day) has apparently become a play date for everybody, but Alabama has plans to be in the title game. LSU might also, but their chances of that are gone with another loss.
There are different scenarios but some may only be made possible after the outcome of next week’s games.
Meanwhile, Nick Saban and Alabama were all but geared up for the trip to Baton Rouge and now must decide how to spend their Saturday.
“We try to keep the team in some kind of rhythm,” Saban said. “We had put in the plan for LSU so we will probably do the same thing (Wednesday). “We will have some kind of practice on Saturday.
“We were looking forward to play a game but we expect disruptions.”
Before the postponement, Alabama had been tabbed as a 28-point favorite.
The rumors were circulating that LSU players had attended a Halloween party and apparently came in contact with the virus. During Wednesday’s teleconference, Orgeron wanted no part of that hearsay.
“I know nothing of that,” Orgeron said. “To be honest with you, most of our guys were quarantining, from contact tracing. I heard it but not from our players. I told them if that is going on, I don’t want them at any parties. They’ve got to be careful.”
When asked what his roster would look like when the Tigers visit Arkansas, Orgeron was much more upbeat.
“You cannot be confident in this fluid situation but what I’ve been told our quarantine guys should be back next week,” he said. “We’ll have a lot more players in practice next week than this week. Right now it looks positive.”
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey stated that the league would work diligently to have all the games made up but everyone should refrain from listening to innuendo.
“I don’t run the league based on Twitter,” Sankey said. “We have finish lines right now. (We need) to be flexible.”
Apparently, LSU got a head start on the Razorbacks on Monday.
“At the beginning of the week, we were going full bore on Arkansas,” Orgeron said. “We didn’t think the Alabama game was going to happen and then maybe thought it could happen, so we went back to Alabama. And then we found out for sure yesterday we weren’t playing.”
Alabama is expected to hold a scrimmage on Saturday (closed to the public) and begin preparations for the Wildcats on schedule. Saban stated the players had stayed clear of COVID with only one positive test, as far as he was aware.