Cancel the Mizzou Game. Now.

Hurricane Delta is currently gathering strength in the Gulf of Mexico. It is currently at the upper limits of Category 2, but it is projected to increase in strength to a Category 3 and possibly a Category 4. This is a serious storm.

Even worse for the citizens of Louisiana, Delta currently projects to make landfall off the Louisiana coast early on Saturday morning. Hurricane projections, as we all know, can be an inexact science, but if there is a consensus projection that a Category 4 storm is going to hit your coast on Saturday morning, it’s best to believe that projection than not believe it.

This is yet another awful thing happening in 2020, and there’s no reason to jeopardize anyone’s health and safety to play a football game before a virtually empty stadium. Hurricanes are dangerous. Act like it.

There is no reason to delay, and every day you wait, it makes the eventual decision to cancel or move the game all the more rushed. School officials should be looking into a viable alternative site for the game right now, or looking into cancellation.

I don’t want to cancel the game. LSU, from a football perspective, needs this game. This is one of the most winnable games on the schedule, and LSU needs one last chance to get things running at full speed for the Florida game next week.

But you don’t play chicken with a hurricane. Delta is coming and that needs to be the state’s first priority. Medical personnel are already pushed to the limit right now, we shouldn’t be allocating any resources for a football game when yet another natural disaster is about to ravage the state.

It’s not even like the home crowd means anything in 2020. The games are played in nearly empty stadiums, as there is little difference between playing before friends and family or the 20,000 or so scheduled to watch this game. That’s not a difference making crowd.

Call up Missouri, and ask if they will host the game. Get the football team out of the state as quickly as possible, so it does not complicate any evacuation procedures that may be put into place in the near future.

Make the decision now and make it so that the football team is not competing with anyone for necessary resources. This is not the time to negotiate the best possible deal or leverage concessions. The only thing that should matter is people’s safety. After that, maybe you see if you can a football game. If you can, it almost certainly will not be in Louisiana. So start working on an alternate site now.

If the game gets cancelled, it gets cancelled. If there’s an option to play in Missouri, that would be great, but the most important thing is not making sure the game gets played. That’s a secondary concern. The primary concern is the hurricane.

The ball is in your court, Woodward. Make the call. And make it today.