Ida forces Tulane over to Oklahoma
No. 2 Oklahoma and Tulane announced Monday that their season opener this weekend has been moved from New Orleans to Norman, Okla., in the fallout from Hurricane Ida.
The Sooners said conditions in New Orleans were not favorable to host a game this weekend. Tulane will be the designated home team and will retain all net proceeds from ticket sales.
Kickoff was still set for 11 a.m. Central on Saturday and the game will be broadcast on ABC.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel named Joe Milton as the Volunteers’ starting quarterback four days before the season opener against Bowling Green.
Miami safety Avantae Williams is back on the roster following the dropping of battery charges, though the Hurricanes say the secondyear freshman will not make his on-field debut until the second half of the season at the earliest.
ETC. SEC teams may face forfeitures
Southeastern Conference teams in all sports that don’t have enough available players as a result of COVID-19 issues will have to forfeit games this year.
Unlike last season, the short-handed team will have to forfeit and will take a loss in the SEC standings for regular-season games.
The scheduled opponent will be credited with a win.
Four female soccer players at Western Michigan challenged the school’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement for athletes, saying it violates their Christian beliefs. The lawsuit came days after a Michigan State employee sued to block its mandate, which is broader and applies to all students, faculty and staff . ... Monmouth men’s basketball coach King Rice was given a five-year contract extension through the 2025-26 season. Terms were not disclosed.
The Nashville Predators signed forward Eeli Tolvanen to a three-year, $4.35million deal.
U.S. forward Tim Weah, who was injured during training with Lille in France, will miss the opening three World Cup qualifiers. The U.S. Soccer Federation said Weah will not report to Nashville ahead of Thursday’s opener.
Alex Carpenter and Abbey Murphy scored in the second period as the U.S. beat Finland 3-0 to advance to the final of the women’s world hockey championship in Calgary, Alberta. The fivetime defending champion United States will play in its 20th gold-medal game Tuesday against Canada, which beat Switzerland 4-0.
Two-time U.S. figure skating champion Alysa Liu will compete at the Nebelhorn Trophy next month in the final qualifying competition for the Winter Games.
Craig Maass, 62, was sentenced to more than four years in prison for stealing more than $600,000 from a college scholarship fund for caddies at Oakland Hills Country Club . ... The trial of Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad alSabah, an influential Olympic official accused of forgery in an alleged plot that implicated political rivals in Kuwait in a coup attempt, opened. He was publicly sidelined as an IOC member and president of the global group of national Olympic bodies after he was indicted in November 2018.