Football Opener Canceled

Utah State University's season opening football game against Nicholls State has been canceled due to the hurricane affecting Nicholls State's preparation and its players' ability to get back to its campus this week.

 

Nicholls State is located in Thibodaux, La., which is approximately 66 miles southwest of New Orleans.

 

The game, which was slated for Saturday at 1:05 p.m. in USU's Romney Stadium, will not be rescheduled. Utah State has a bye week on Sept. 17 when the Colonels are playing Cheyney.  Nicholls State's bye week is Oct. 22 when the Aggies are hosting Boise State. The schools decided not to hold a game on Dec. 3. The Aggies will instead open the season at the University of Utah on Sept. 10.

 

Individuals who have purchased single-game tickets for the contest will have the opportunity to trade their tickets for any other home game on the Utah State schedule this season with the exception of the Boise State game. Tickets must be exchanged by Sept. 23.

 

Other home games for USU this year include Sept. 24 vs. UNLV, Oct. 8 vs. San Jose State, Nov. 5 vs. Louisiana Tech and Nov. 19 vs. Nevada.

 

This is the first time since 1970 that a Utah State football game has been canceled. On Oct. 2 of that year, the Wichita State football team was flying to Logan for a game, when one of the planes crashed in Colorado.

 

The last time an Aggie football game was moved more than two days from its schedule was due to Sept. 11 in 2001. The Aggies were scheduled to play at Fresno State that week, but the game was moved to Dec. 1.

 

"First and foremost, our prayers are with the families and victims of the hurricane," said USU director of athletics Randy Spetman. "We need to do all we can to support them.

 

"We are disappointed not to be playing this Saturday," he continued. "There is a lot of excitement in the community and we would like to have had a great game. We will focus on Utah and then open the home season against UNLV on Sept. 24."

 

Aggie head coach Brent Guy said his team will adjust to the situation.

 

"Obviously our team is disappointed to not be able to play," he said. "If a situation like this occurred with us, I know we would have the same problems. This is similar to 9/11 and we had to adjust to those changes back in 2001.

 

"You always want to see where your team is, and we will have to wait an extra week for that," Guy said. "You make your most progress between the first and second game and we will have an open week after the Utah game. We are going to be playing just one game in 21 days basically."

 

Guy said the team will continue to practice throughout the week and will start concentrating on Utah beginning on Wednesday.