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Hurricane Katrina forced the postponement Tuesday of both the Tulane-Southern Mississpippi game and the LSU-North Texas contest.

The Tulane-Southern Mississippi game that was supposed to be played Sunday in Hattiesburg, Miss., has been moved to the Saturday after Thanksgiving because of the problems caused by Hurricane Katrina.
"We have been in contact with the administrators for both universities and we all agree that the focus of our attention should be on the continued safety of the student-athletes, coaches and the lives of those affected by this storm," Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky said Tuesday. "Playing a football game is not our highest priority at this time."

Tulane and Southern Miss were scheduled to end their seasons Nov. 19. Now, their opener will become their finale on Nov. 26.

ESPN2, which was to carry Sunday's game, told the conference it will still try honoring those plans.

Tulane's football and women's soccer teams fled New Orleans on Sunday, making a 9½-hour bus ride to Jackson, Miss. They've been practicing at Jackson State University, although the storm cut power to the campus Monday afternoon after battering Louisiana and heading east.

Tulane will pack its bags and bus to Dallas, where Southern Methodist University will play host until Tulane can return to New Orleans.

Southern Mississippi, which is in battered Hattiesburg, will travel to Memphis, which will be its host.

LSU announced in a statement it had chosen to reschedule its contest so the campus could help the recovery effort.

"The scope of this tragedy is becoming more evident as time passes, and LSU's focus in on assisting the recovery effort of our state," LSU chancellor Sean O'Keefe said. "LSU is a primary evacuation site, and we are not going to conduct any activities that could deter our mission of assisting in the recovery."

A number of athletic facilities on the LSU campus are being used in the recovery effort. The resulting traffic from a football game could have seriously impacted the efforts of emergency medical vehicles arriving from the New Orleans area.

"The events of [Monday] and [Tuesday] morning have made it clear that this is not the time to play a football game," said LSU athletics director Skip Bertman on Tuesday. "This is a dire situation that rivals any in the history of our state, and our priorities are on participating in recovery efforts."

The rescheduled date for LSU's contest will be determined by the two schools and an announcement is expected within the next 36 to 48 hours.

It marks the second straight year both schools have had a football game postponed. Last September, Tulane had to reschedule a contest vs. Louisville and Southern Miss had to move a game vs. California due to Hurricane Ivan.