HispanicBusiness

Hurricane Isaac's slow assault on the state of Louisiana forced Louisiana Tech and Texas A&M to reschedule Thursday's season opener.

The two teams were set to play in Shreveport, which is about 200 miles from the coast. But Shreveport likely will receive tropical storm-strength winds and rains on Thursday.

The teams now will play Oct. 13 at Shreveport's Independence Stadium. Each school had that date already open. There was no kickoff time or television scheduling information immediately available.

It's at least the third time in A&M history that a hurricane has forced a game to be rescheduled. It last happened in 2005, when the Aggies moved up their game with Texas State by two days because of Hurricane Rita.

In 1988, Hurricane Gilbert, which ended up veering away from its projected course and hitting Mexico, forced the rescheduling of A&M's game against Alabama. The contest was moved to December, and the Crimson Tide won at Kyle Field.

A&M's new season opener will be Sept. 8 at home against Florida, which already was significant because it also will be the first Southeastern Conference game for the Aggies in school history.

In moving the non-conference game against Louisiana Tech, A&M now gives up its previously scheduled open date. The Aggies will play three of their four October games on the road, also going to Mississippi and Auburn.

The last time A&M opened the season this late was in 1991. And that year, the Aggies kicked off the year -- on Sept. 14 -- against LSU, now a new conference rival.

Thursday's game was rescheduled because two days before kickoff, there still was too much uncertainty on Isaac's path.

"Our primary concern was for the health and safety of the general public, students and fans of both institutions," Louisiana Tech athletic director Bruce Van De Velde said. "It's impossible to predict exactly what is going to happen throughout the state, so we also wanted to be conscientious of the possible effects of his storm on residents throughout Louisiana.

"As much as both teams wanted to play, the safety of everyone took precedent over a football game, even one of this magnitude," Van De Velde said. "We simply couldn't move forward with Thursday's kickoff in good conscience knowing what this storm may do."