Hopefully, no team will again endure what Tulane did in 2005 when it was displaced before, during and after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans.

Coach Chris Scelfo presided over a nomadic football program that set up shop in Mississippi at Jackson State, 500 miles away in Dallas and at Louisiana Tech. Instead of the Superdome, the team’s home before Yulman Stadium opened on campus in 2014, “home” games were played at five different stadiums in Louisiana and one in Alabama.

Though Hurricane Milton was not as devastating to the west coast of Florida as Katrina was to Louisiana as well as coastal Mississippi and Alabama it was, well, devastating.

“I hurt for our players’ families that are hurting and I hurt for a lot of people that don’t know where they are going to eat and sleep tonight,” said an emotional Alex Golesh, the second-year coach at the University of South Florida, last Saturday night.

Uncertainty

Golesh spoke to the media in the bowels of Camping World Stadium in Orlando last Saturday evening following his team’s 21-3 loss to Memphis. The USF football program moved its operation 90 miles east from Tampa to Orlando last Tuesday as Milton riled himself up and approached the Tampa Bay region before making landfall late Wednesday night. The team stayed at the Orlando World Center Marriott, 17 miles from the stadium.

Whether Tampa, St. Petersburg or points south such as Sarasota and Bradenton, about 30 players on the USF roster are from the bay area. Most have family throughout the region, including near where the eye of the beast made landfall. Same with coaches, support staff and others with the program.

“The uncertainty of what’s coming,” said Golesh, when asked about the most difficult part of a very difficult week. “The uncertainty of whether we are going to play, where we are going to play, is it the right thing to play. That was hard. I had a sick feeling in my stomach.”

The 40-year-old coach expressed his approval for the how the administration, specifically athletic director Micheal Kelly and deputy athletics director Kris Pierce, dealt with the concerns of the entire program.

“They never wavered on what’s right by our players and I certainly felt the support in every imaginable way,” he said.

The Bulls used a high school in Orlando to practice and prepare for a game that did not have a certain date, time and location until such details were announced about 7:30 last Thursday evening. Even then, there were logistics pertaining to the stadium that had to be addressed.

Home away from home

The Bulls were scheduled to host the Tigers at Raymond James Stadium last Friday evening. On Tuesday morning, three days before scheduled kick off, the matchup between American Athletic Conference opponents was moved back a day to Saturday at 3:30. That, of course, went by the board as well.

“Raymond James Stadium itself was fine, but on Thursday morning there was so much going on that it would not have been the right thing,” said Kelly, in making an easy decision not to play in Tampa out of respect for first responders and law enforcement dealing with Milton’s impact.

Given neither team had a common bye week, the conference, USF and Memphis did all they could to make sure the game was played. It was announced last Thursday evening, about 24 hours after more than three million residents and businesses lost power across a wide portion of the Florida peninsula, the game would be played at Camping World Stadium on Saturday at 3:30.

“Because there was no other date to reschedule, we wanted to play the game where it can be safely played by the participants,” said Kelly. “We put all of our chips into (Camping World Stadium).”

Other options were discussed including playing in Miami at FIU and in Boca Raton at FAU. The latter would have meant playing on Sunday as the Owls were home to North Texas the night before. That would have resulted in a short week for both teams.

“Neither coach was particularly keen on that,” said Kelly, who noted moving the game to Memphis was a possibility. “So, it was our job to keep throwing out different options for (American) Commissioner (Tim) Pernetti and Memphis and what was acceptable to all of us.”

Another factor to consider was Milton’s potential impact in the middle of the state. While it did not come into play, there was at least a chance UCF might have had to relocate its game against Cincinnati to Camping World Stadium if there was damage to the school’s on-campus stadium or conditions were less than ideal within the university community. Neither proved not be the case.

Kelly, in concert with the city of Orlando and Steve Hogan, the CEO of Florida Citrus Sports, the management firm that produces the Pop-Tarts Bowl, Cheez-It Citrus Bowl and other events that take place at Camping World Stadium, arranged to make the game happen.

“It’s Thursday and Memphis has to get the (equipment) truck down here and everyone with the stadium is working as hard as they can (to staff the game),” said Kelly. “At least we got to the point Thursday night that we made the announcement to at least say that we know we can safely play the game. We know USF, the (game) officials, ESPN and Memphis can get here.”

With the help of Hogan and his staff, enough rooms at a hotel were available to accommodate the Tigers’ traveling party.

Game on

It was understood every effort was going to be made to play the game. Clearwater native and senior offensive lineman Mike Lofton expressed his gratitude for those who made it possible during trying times.

“I want to give a shoutout to player personnel and the operations staff,” he said. “I appreciate all those guys for making it happen as well as those with nutrition and strength and conditioning. All those wonderful people did a good job of adapting and adjusting. We felt as though the game was going to be played and we were ready to play whether it was going to be Friday, Saturday or Sunday.”

Knowing how difficult the days leading up to kickoff had been, Golesh made only two requests of his team.

“I asked them to play as hard as they can for 60 minutes,” he said. “They did that. I asked them to stay focused. They went through a lot this week with their families and what they are going through. They did that.”

For their part, the Tigers came out of the gate and took a 14-0 lead before the game was nine minutes old and returned home with their first conference win.

“I want everybody to know that our program’s thoughts and prayers continue for all those affected by the hurricane,” said coach Ryan Silverfield. “We hope that everybody is safe and sound.”

Being safely tucked away in Orlando for a week, as it turned out, meant a chance for the Bulls to experience some mid-season bonding, albeit with Milton on their minds.

“It was a time for us to show our maturity as a team, be able to come together, stick together, lean on each other and put an arm around each other,” said senior linebacker Mac Harris, who is from The Villages, about an hour’s drive northwest of Orlando.

Back home

Because power at USF’s football facility was not restored until Monday, the team remained in Orlando as it flipped to page to prepare for visiting UAB this week. The Bulls finally returned to Tampa late Monday evening. Golesh noted that 95 percent of the players had their power restored. Lofton added that everything seemed good with players’ families. A sigh of relief all around.

“It’s nice to get back into a normal routine and have a Tuesday practice (on campus),” said Golesh, at his weekly presser. “We had a physical, really spirited and really juiced up practice, which was much needed. I think our guys were refreshed to be back here and get going.”

What was learned from the experience?

“It was a blessing to be around teammates,” said Lofton. “Guys really do love each other and they really do play for each other.”

It was a week nobody will soon forget. It was a week when many people worked together to make something happen in an uncertain and hectic environment.

“I am really proud of our kids,” said Golesh. “I am really proud of our program, and I am really proud of everybody involved with our program because nobody flinched.”

Saturday’s game will be about more than a matchup with UAB and homecoming. It will also be about lending a helping hand to those affected by Hurricane Milton.