Brian Kelly addresses preparation under threat of Hurricane Ian for Auburn-LSU

As Hurricane Ian bears down on the Gulf Coast college football coaches across the southeast are preparing as best they can. Hurricane Ian could impact Auburn–LSU, but LSU coach Brian Kelly has some previous experience dealing with games impacted by hurricanes.

Auburn is unlikely to take a direct hit from the storm if current trajectory forecasts hold, so any impacts Hurricane Ian has on Auburn-LSU are likely to be limited to wind and rain.

“No doubt. We’ve talked about a gameplan in terms of what it might look like, hopefully that’s going to pass through,” Kelly said. “We’re going to get probably some rain of some kind and that’ll be our first time in that kind of element. It’s a grass situation, so you put those plans together relative to what that would look like if, in fact, we did get hit with some severe rain.”

According to a rainfall map created by the National Hurricane Center as of 4:21 p.m. EDT on Monday, Auburn could receive up to four inches of rainfall as a result of Hurricane Ian.

Could Hurricane Ian impact Auburn-LSU?

Though trajectory forecasts can be unreliable a few days out from landfall, most current models have Hurricane Ian making landfall just north of Tampa, Fla.

That would put Auburn on the west side of the storm, the weaker side. Should that path hold, a forced cancellation of Auburn-LSU due to Hurricane Ian is unlikely, but the storm could still impact game-planning.

“I’ve been in two remnants of hurricanes, one at North Carolina State, which was abysmal and I think the other was at Clemson,” Kelly said. “They affect the game conditions, and so you have to plan accordingly in terms of your passing game, running game. Kicking game is affected dramatically. Field position, tactically how you call a game. You just have to wrap your head around it prior to and prepare for it. And then, quite frankly, you have to react accordingly during the game.”

In any case, with 48-72 hours still before a likely Gulf Coast landfall from Hurricane Ian, Kelly isn’t going to overly complicate things for his squad.

“I’m not making too much of it,” he said. “I’m not going to put too much on our players. Our players just need to play, and as coaches we’ll adapt accordingly during the game.”