Aug. 30, 2005

IRVING, Texas - Due to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina across New Orleans, large portions of Southeastern Louisiana, Mississippi and parts of Alabama, this week's Conference USA football game between Tulane and Southern Mississippi originally scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 4 in Hattiesburg, Miss., has been postponed, officials of both schools and Conference USA announced Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Green Wave football and women's soccer teams, which evacuated to Jackson, Miss. along with approximately 400 other Tulane students and staff on Sunday, left the storm-ravaged state on Tuesday. The gym on the campus of Jackson State University, where the Green Wave teams were staying, as well as the remainder of the city, lost power Monday afternoon when Katrina blew through and it became apparent that a longer-term solution was required, even with the postponement of Sunday's game.

The Tulane football team headed to Dallas - or "Camp Dallas" - as Green Wave Athletic Director Rick Dickson termed it, where new fellow Conference USA member SMU offered use of its practice facilities and accommodations will be provided in the Radisson Hotel near the campus on Mockingbird. The team, including coaches and support staff, left Jackson in the late afternoon and was expected to arrive in Dallas late Tuesday night.

The Tulane women's soccer team, scheduled to play in the UAB Nike Tournament at the home of fellow league member UAB this weekend, bused to Birmingham Tuesday and will make its home at the Sheraton Civic Center Birmingham for the remainder of the week. UAB is making arrangements for Betsy Anderson's team to practice in its facilities as part of "Camp Birmingham."

"The safety and well-being of our student-athletes and coaches has been our top priority," Dickson said. "We are very appreciative of the hospitality of Jackson State over the past couple of days, and now our conference office and our fellow C-USA member schools have stepped forward to offer assistance."

Dickson said that the football team would make its headquarters in Dallas for the "foreseeable future" while soccer will travel to its next scheduled tournament in California following its stay in Birmingham. In addition, the Tulane volleyball team's scheduled tournament in New Orleans this weekend, has been cancelled.

The football game between Tulane and Southern has been tentatively rescheduled for Saturday, Nov. 26 as both teams were scheduled to finish the regular season a week earlier, on Nov. 19. The league office is in discussions with ESPN about airing the contest in November. Sunday's game was scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN2 at 3 p.m. this weekend.

Check back to www.TulaneGreenWave.com for future updates, as well as updates from Tulane University.

-- Tulane --