It doesn’t take a meteorologist to know that it’s hot in the state of Louisiana in September, and that doesn’t always cooperate with college football.
LSU typically plays night games at home, especially early in the season, but Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff against UCLA, which featured a heat index of 100 degrees Fahrenheit shortly after kick, was an exception.
The heat caused a high number of fans to leave the game early and also led to 58 medical incidents, according to The Reveille.
Many have called for the state of Louisiana to adopt legislation barring games from kicking off before 6 p.m. in September, similar to that which has been adopted in Arizona. And they have a supporter in Tigers coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag].
“I certainly would,” Kelly said when asked if he would support similar legislation to what Arizona has adopted. “We saw what happened. I just need to see that happen once, that in a place like Tiger Stadium to have that kind of environment where it is just so difficult to sit and watch a game, it totally makes sense. I get it, TV’s involved, the conference is involved, there’s a lot of things you have to consider… but I would definitely throw my hat in the ring of supporting something like that.”
Only time will tell if we’ve seen the last daytime September kickoff in Death Valley, but perhaps athletics director [autotag]Scott Woodward[/autotag] can lobby for that kind of change in the offseason.
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