As Americans came to grips with Tuesday’s apparent terrorist attacks, six major-college football games were postponed and school officials debated whether to play the rest of the weekend’s slate.
Meanwhile, hundreds of non-revenue athletic contests, including volleyball matches involving Northwestern and Notre Dame, were scrubbed Tuesday as campuses across the nation closed.
Three of the Division I-A football games postponed were scheduled for Thursday night: Penn State’s nationally televised game at Virginia, Ohio University’s visit to North Carolina State and Texas Tech’s game at UTEP. The Texas Tech game was tentatively moved to Saturday.
San Diego State at No. 21 Ohio State was rescheduled for Oct. 20, an open date for both schools. No. 13 Washington’s visit to top-ranked Miami also was postponed. And No. 14 UCLA said it hoped to move Saturday’s game against Arizona State to Dec. 1.
“We sit here thinking that it puts a lot less importance on Saturday,” Ohio State coach Jim Tressel told reporters in Columbus, Ohio. “You say to yourself, `Who’s going to be getting on airplanes to go play each other right now?'”
Because few teams play Dec. 1, that Saturday could become a convenient rescheduling option, although the Southeastern and Big 12 conferences stage their playoffs that day.
Commissioners from the six Bowl Championship Series conferences met via teleconference Tuesday afternoon and were expected to speak to athletic directors in their leagues Wednesday.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, who had been in Philadelphia with an aide for an NCAA meeting, had planned to fly back to Chicago on Tuesday morning, but his flight was canceled. The Big Ten sent most staff members home, spokeswoman Sue Lister said.
Commissioners were expected to discuss how cancellations might affect the complicated BCS standings, which weigh game results to determine the pairing in the BCS title game.
In Division I-A and I-AA, 116 games were scheduled for Thursday through Saturday, including two others with national title implications– No. 8 Tennessee at No. 2 Florida and No. 10 Georgia Tech at No. 6 Florida State.
“Football’s not very important when you start thinking about something like this,” Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. “But at the same time, life does go on.”
College officials said they would wait to see whether the government freezes non-essential air travel. Some tried to interpret signals from the Bush administration that the nation would quickly return to normalcy.
“It may be out of our hands,” Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese told reporters. “There are a lot of issues, emotional ones. Kids flying, playing in large venues with a lot of people and if the government says do something, we do it.”
Conferences and host institutions have the final say on whether games will be canceled. But NCAA president Cedric Dempsey urged schools to “make sound decisions about proceeding with contests today and in the coming days.”
“This is one of those things where you can’t do the right thing,” Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger said. “You can do what you think is the best thing to do. Whether it’s right or wrong is for others to debate, I guess.”
There is precedent for widespread cancellations and postponements. When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, most college football games the next day were either canceled or the date was changed. As officials mulled whether to play games this weekend, the some schools suspended the business of football Tuesday.
Notre Dame canceled all athletic practices and held a prayer mass for students, faculty and staff. The 23rd-ranked Fighting Irish expect to know Wednesday whether their game at Purdue will be played Saturday as scheduled.
UCLA also canceled workouts Tuesday.
“After listening to comments from several members of the team, I decided that regardless of whether or not we play the game Saturday, today should be a day for us to reflect on things other than football,” Bruins coach Bob Toledo said.
But practices went on at several schools, including Florida, which is scheduled to face Tennessee Saturday in Gainesville, Fla. An athletic department spokesman said the Gators were practicing “to try to get the kids to think about something else.”
While it was not immediately known whether any college athletes or coaches were among the casualties, the tragedy touched people in athletic departments across the country. Some wondered whether there had been any damage to the Downtown Athletic Club, home to the Heisman Trophy. The DAC is located on the southern tip of Manhattan, only a few blocks from where the World Trade Center towers stood before they were destroyed Tuesday. Phone calls to the DAC were not answered Tuesday and officials could not be reached.
Tressel said his players seemed to be in shock and that some were crying at their lockers. Tressel said the mother of one Buckeyes player, whom he did not identify, was reportedly at the World Trade Center Tuesday.
“We’re trying to find out if she was there,” Tressel said. “It’s a hard time.”
