Postponed LSU-Florida game to be played Nov. 19 in Baton Rouge

The LSU-Florida game that was postponed due to Hurricane Matthew last Saturday will be played Nov. 19, but will take place in Baton Rouge and not Gainesville.

In order to take part in the contest, both schools will have to buy out of their scheduled non-conference games that weekend. Florida was scheduled to host Presbyterian, while LSU was slated to welcome South Alabama to Tiger Stadium.

"It was important for us to come to a resolution," SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said. "Each university had its own set of concerns throughout this process, however existing SEC regulations did not provide an avenue to resolve conflicting issues in a timely manner. As I have repeatedly said, this game needed to be played."

LSU athletic director Joe Alleva was adamant throughout the week that the Tigers would not lose a home game on Nov. 19, forcing the Gators and the SEC to relent and make the trip to Baton Rouge. To even out the amount of home games for each program in the series, LSU will then travel to Florida in both 2017 and 2018.

While the decision certainly resolves the matter going forward, retiring Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley added some fuel to the fire, claiming the Tigers were never engaged in discussions to find a solution.

"The conference office asked us to find a solution in working with LSU, yet LSU was never a true partner in our discussions," Foley said. "The SEC offered some other solutions and the LSU administration made it clear that they were unwilling to consider other reasonable options."

According to Ross Dellenger of The Advocate, the decision to buy out the non-conference games will cost LSU $1.5 million and Florida $500,000.

Had the game not been rescheduled, both schools would have been ineligible for the SEC Championship Game, as the conference demands teams must play eight conference games to be eligible for participation.