BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU has moved up the kickoff time of its home opener Saturday against Appalachian State because of concerns about Tropical Storm Gustav.
A spokesman for the school's board said Gov. Bobby Jindal's office asked for the change from 4 p.m. to 10 a.m. local time (11 a.m. ET).
Spokesman Charles Zewe said the switch was required because of concerns over traffic, as evacuees are expected to be heading north through Baton Rouge.
"Public safety was the overriding concern expressed by all parties when we met with the governor and his staff today," LSU director of athletics Joe Alleva said Friday. "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."
Jindal already has declared a state of emergency to lay the groundwork for federal assistance, and New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin said he would order a mandatory evacuation of the city if forecasters predict a Category 3 strike -- or possibly even a Category 2 -- within 72 hours.
All pregame activities already have been canceled, including those at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, which is being readied as a possible evacuation site.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.