With Hurricane Ike making landfall in Texas sometime early Saturday morning a lot of games have been moved around for the safety of all parties involved. The most moves are obviously coming in College Football (namely the Big XII) with Texas having multiple universities within Ike's path, but MLB and the NFL are also switching things around.

It was announced yesterday that the Ravens and Texans game scheduled originally for Sunday at 4:15pm was moved to Monday night, but not very many people are going to get to see it. The only networks carrying the contest will be local ones and to those of you saying, "but I have the League Pass on DirecTV," not so fast my friend. Via PFT....

We’ve confirmed via communications with NFL spokesman Greg Aiello and ESPN spokesman William Hofheimer that fans of the Ravens and Texans who don’t live in Baltimore or Houston and who have purchased Sunday Ticket specifically so that they can watch the Ravens or Texans play won’t be able to do so this week because of ESPN’s exclusive prime-time rights on Monday night.

This Monday, ESPN will be airing the Eagles-Cowboys game. And so the Ravens-Texans game can’t be televised, except in the teams’ home markets.

Well that's a bummer isn't it? Obviously Sports take a backseat to a storm of this nature, and we're all hoping Ike hopefully passes through Texas without much damage, but you'd think ESPN could waive the exclusivity for the night. The "Leader" is usually very good when it comes to these situations so hopefully the fans of both teams can see the game.

Also, stay safe all of you Texans.

Update: You WILL be able to see the game on DirecTV now. Good on you, ESPN.

ESPN's Contract Prevents Ravens-Texans On DirecTV (Pro Football Talk)

Scary stuff going on in Atlanta and the SEC Tournament. I saw an update on ESPN that Alabama had hit a three to send their game into Overtime against Mississippi State, but that's probably not what anyone is thinking about right now.....

The Georgia Dome is shaking. The TV monitors are swaying, the fans are scattering, and the insulation is coming down onto the court. As I said, rain delay. Sorta scary. The teams are back in the locker room, waiting this out.

Meanwhile the National Weather Service is reporting severe weather in downtown Atlanta, conditions that created this delay. Crazy, right? It's almost like something hit the roof and everything started moving. There is this weird murmur in the air, with everyone just kind of milling around.

That's pretty scary. Hope everyone is okay down there.

Update: Umm....this doesn't look good.....



Update: Okay here's the video....



Update #3: The Sporting Blog's Spencer Hall was on scene and has a photo essay of the damage....

Photo Essay: Weather Cancels SEC Nightcap (The Sporting Blog)

Rain delay -- really! Severe rain, apparently. (The Rap Sheet)
Storm damages Ga. Dome, delays SEC game (AJC.com)

It was nasty here in the DC area, so it took me forever to get back to AA HQ this morning. Well apparently it was "worse" in Atlanta....

ATLANTA (AP) -The game between Virginia and Georgia Tech was called off Thursday night because of a leaking roof at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

Georgia Tech athletic director Dan Radakovich said it had not been decided if the teams could reschedule the Atlantic Coast Conference matchup.

With the court wet in the lane near Georgia Tech's bench, officials first postponed the tip-off for 20 minutes. By 7:30 p.m., however, the game originally scheduled for 7 p.m. was postponed indefinitely because the maintenance crew couldn't guarantee the leaks would stop.

Weather forecasts called for between 2 and 3 inches of rain in metropolitan Atlanta.

Umm, that's not good. I guess it was good to cancel the game, but you might want to get that fixed for future games.

Troy (7-5) v. Rice (7-5)

Date/Time:	Dec. 22, 8 p.m. ET
Site:	The Superdome, New Orleans
Network:	ESPN

Weather: Doesn't matter because the game is being played in a Dome. But if you really care about New Orleans' weather it's going to be partly cloudy with a low of 48.

Past Results (5):

Dec. 20, 2005	Southern Miss 31, Arkansas State 19
Dec. 14, 2004	Southern Miss 31, North Texas 10
Dec. 16, 2003	Memphis 27, North Texas 17
Dec. 17, 2002	North Texas 24, Cincinnati 19
Dec. 18, 2001	Colorado State 45, North Texas 28

Player(s) to Watch: Rice's Soph Wide Receiver #81- Jarett Dillard
He's perhaps the best player you haven't heard of. He's totalled 1,176 yards (6th in D-1) on the season and has had 5 100+ yard games. Jarett leads the nation with 20 TD receptions.

Troy's Quarterback #17- Omar Haugabook
Besides having a sweet last name.......Omar is one of those typical Sun Belt Quart......okay I'll stop faking. I've never heard of this kid. But he does have a good number of rushing yards to go with 2,184 passing yards. He is prone to throwing a good number of picks though.

Deciding Factor(s): Troy's pass defense v. Jarett Dillard
Troy's pass defense has been pretty bad all season. I mean they lost to Nebraska 56-0. I can't tell you the last time Nebraska put up 50+, but it had to be when Tommie Frazier was there. Rice has one of the Nation's best receivers in Dillard, so it doesn't look good for the Trojans. Buuuuut....Rice's defense hasn't been any better. They give up 32.58 points per game, but have won ball games with takeaways (1st in C-USA). Hougabook has as many INTs as TDs this year, so look for Rice to have the ball most of the time.

Crazy Stat: New Rice coach Todd Graham brought in former Texas QB Major Applewhite to run a more balanced spread offense. In one season the Owls went from 103 passing yards per game to 206.5 yards.

Spread: RICE -4, O/U 54.5

AA's Pick and Analysis: I think this is one of the easiest games to call. Rice has won it's last 6 games and has put up a good number of points in the process (besides an 18 point outing against ECU). Troy is not a very dynamic team, so I expect there to be a lot of turnovers, and yet another blowout this early Bowl Season (just under the posted total of 54.5).

Prediction: Rice 36-17.

Good luck to all. Thanks for playing the game and stop by later for analysis of the game and the announcing.
______________

So Troy has come out like gang-busters, but Rice just scored on a nice catch to cut the lead to 14-7.

Exciting stuff I know.

Wait! Shane Falco got the TD??? I thought he played for Ohio State and hasn't played since that fateful Sugar Bowl!

Hougabook looks all-world early with three touchdowns. Rice keeps trying to run the ball with little success. 21-7 Troy.

Forgot to tell you the announcers again...silly me. They are Chris "I envision my wife and kids rape and death to play better and aggressive football" Spielman and Sean McDonough....good team actually.

It's 28-10 Troy at half.....it's Friday, so I'm heading out into the world. Most likely to go see Night at the Museum by myself, but hey....it's something right. Enjoy your night, and we'll see you tomorrow for a full days worth of games. GO OWLS!