Are the Florida Gators Dodging the LSU Tigers Game Due to Hurricane Matthew to Screw Tennessee Vols?

The Florida-LSU game has been postponed due to Hurricane Matthew. Are the Gators dodging the Tigers to screw the Tennessee Volunteers in the SEC East race?

The SEC dropped the bombshell on Thursday that Florida-LSU would be postponed due to Hurricane Matthew.

Now, with the two schools unable to reach an agreement on when to reschedule, it’s difficult to say whether or not they will even be able to play the game. And the team that hurts the most is the Tennessee Vols.

Now let me first say I believe everything Jeremy Foley said about the way Florida handled the game. I’m sure it was a last-minute decision to postpone the game when they saw the direction the hurricane was headed.

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And the most important thing is the safety of the players, coaches, and really everybody involved.

However, given the circumstances that have followed, everything seems to point to Florida dodging the game.

To start, both teams made ridiculous suggestions.

LSU offered to move the game to Baton Rouge or a neutral site, according to a report. Florida rejected both, understandably. Why should they cost themselves an opportunity to make more money from a home game.

But then, the Gators offered a ridiculous proposal themselves, which was to play the game Nov. 19 when both teams have non-conference home games.

They tried to make the case that they’d help LSU buy out their home game that weekend. But even with the buyout, it’s nothing compared to the money the Tigers would lose by not having the game in Baton Rouge.

However, there was one obviously reasonable explanation. The hurricane will be well out of the way on Sunday, and according to reports LSU offered to postpone the game until Sunday and play Florida in Baton Rouge there.

This is exactly what South Carolina and Georgia decided to do. However, according to league sources, the SEC office rejected the proposal.

Why would they reject the most reasonable offer to make up the game and respond with an offer that they know LSU would not take?

Well, Jeremy Foley came out and heavily defended SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey’s decision, which you can read about here. Why would he defend the decision to reject the most reasonable offer?

Given Foley’s influence in the SEC, there is plenty of reason to raise suspicion.

It appears as if they’re dodging the Tigers. And principle among the teams that this crews is Tennessee.

The Vols play the top two teams in the SEC over the next two weeks, the Texas A&M Aggies and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Florida fans are holding out hope that they lose both. If that happens and they win out, they have a great chance to win the East.

However, to do that they’d have to beat the LSU Tigers, Arkansas Razorbacks, and the Georgia Bulldogs. That’s no small task.

And with Luke Del Rio just getting back to health this week, they’d like to avoid a resurgent LSU Tigers team under Ed Orgeron with that defense as much as possible.

Now, if they can’t work out an agreement, the Gators only have to beat Arkansas and Georgia, which they know they’re capable of doing.

What happens if they do that and finish 6-1 without playing LSU, but the Vols finish 6-2? If this game is never made up, the Gators could win the East and go to Atlanta.

After all, they would have the highest winning percentage.

Is it a conspiracy theory? Sure. But it’s a valid one.

Foley gave the Gators and himself an out by making the offer to play Nov. 19. But he knew LSU wouldn’t take that offer given the fact that they need the economic revenue from every home game they can get due to the floods this past summer.

However, he can now make the claim that he tried to reschedule a date with LSU but LSU didn’t take it. It was a genius move.

He intentionally avoids the most reasonable offer to make up the game while responding to a ridiculous offer. That certainly comes across as dodging.

And it could screw the Vols by the end of the year.

Now we want to be clear. Hurricane Matthew has screwed people in way worse ways than who wins a division in a football season. That is completely irrelevant to the awful results the hurricane has already had in Haiti and what it could do to the East Coast.

I think every Vol and Gator fan with any soul would rather see their football programs permanently collapse than see loss of life from this storm.

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However, purely in the scope of football, Hurricane Matthew could have an unfair effect on the Vols. And Florida is exploiting it.

Of course, if Tennessee wins either of the next two games, that may not end up being an issue.