HEAT INDEX

LSU staff recalls ASU's help after Hurricane Katrina

Andrew Joseph
azcentral sports

This week marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall on the Gulf Coast. It was a storm that devastated the entire region, and in all, it claimed 1,833 lives.

A volunteer collects doantions for Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund before the game between the Arizona State Sun Devils and the Louisiana State University Tigers at Sun Devil Stadium on September 10, 2005 in Phoenix, Arizona.

The whole state of Louisiana felt the effects of Katrina as the entire nation stood up to lend a helping hand. Arizona was no exception.

Billy Gomila of SB Nation's And The Valley Shook took a long look back at LSU's experience with Hurricane Katrina. The storm left the football team in such a tough position that the school decided to postpone its opener against North Texas. The Tigers' Week 2 matchup was supposed to be a home game against Arizona State.

The game did happen -- 1,440 miles to the west at ASU's Sun Devil Stadium.

Gomila's piece broke down how difficult moving a home game to Tempe was on such short notice, and that it wouldn't have been possible without ASU's help.

He wrote, speaking with LSU Administrative Coordinator Lois Stuckey and equipment manager Greg Stringfellow:

LSU's administration and athletic department ultimately decided to travel, and turn what should have been a home game versus the Sun Devils into a road game in Tempe, Arizona. For Stringfellow, a season-opening road game usually includes about six weeks of preparation and packing to get LSU's equipment truck on the road.

"Going across the country, we had to have the truck ready to leave on Wednesday," he said. "So all that packing had to be done on Tuesday."

Bringing LSU football on the road requires more than just packing. Potential team hotels are scouted months in advance to make sure they suit program needs.

"We go and check out the hotels, the meeting rooms," said Stuckey. "We bring our own servers, so (video coordinator) Doug (Aucoin) has to go and run the wires and all that. Typically, somebody goes and does that a week in advance and now we only have a few days. But we had a seasoned staff, and the folks in Arizona were just so helpful in getting things done."

The work the goes on behind the scenes when it comes to an away college football game is so elaborate, and it's hard to imagine what it took to get everything done on such a tight deadline -- not to mention that the players and staff certainly had a lot on their minds after the storm.

According to Gomila, LSU was moved by how great the people at ASU and Tempe treated everyone. They said that is was something they had never experienced before on the road.

"They treated us like a home team," said Stringfellow. "The people at the stadium, the people at the hotel -- it almost felt like a bowl game in terms of people being so nice and doing so much for you."

Players walked off the team game onto a literal red carpet on the tarmac, with a hospitality tent set up with food and drinks.

"Everything just felt better," said Mullenix. "The food was better than what a lot of us were eating here, and even the air conditioner felt cooler."

"Everybody was just exhausted," Stringfellow added.  "I mean some of us still didn't have power, people had their parents living with them, living in this building, basically. So we get out there and it just reminds you that the world did not end, the world is still moving, so we need to make sure that that's how we play. So I think it helped us all focus."

The game itself ended in a dramatic 35-31 win for LSU. JaMarcus Russell connected with Early Doucet for a late, go-ahead 39-yard touchdown on fourth down.

Early Doucet and wide receiver for the Louisiana State University Tigers scores the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter as Maurice London and Josh Barrett of the Arizona State Sun Devils try to stop him as the Tigers go on to win by a a score of 35-31at Sun Devil Stadium on September 10, 2005.

But the score isn't what sticks with LSU, it's the compassion from ASU.