Playing through the smoke

By Jordan Moore on September 2, 2009 1:36 PM | No Comments

Even as wildfires continue to march on in the mountains north of L.A., Saturday's season opener will carry on as planned, USC athletic department officials said today.

Assistant athletic director for game management John Henderson said moving or rescheduling the USC-San Jose State game "is not even in the thought process right now." Henderson cited a consistent off-shore breeze that has been sweeping through the USC and Coliseum area, pushing the smoke away and improving air quality. Also, relocating the game "wouldn't make sense logistically," Henderson said. The only adjustment to the game so far will be the absence of a ceremonial flyover, which was canceled because of the smoke in the area.

Meanwhile, athletic trainers are continuing to monitor air quality for practices and workouts this week, especially keeping a close eye on asthmatic players.

"The smoke is pretty bad but we haven't had any issues," head athletic trainer Russ Romano said. "Nobody's had any problems."

In terms of Saturday's season opener, one high-level person certainly isn't thinking about making any adjustments to the schedule.

"We're definitely playing," Coach Carroll said.

University Southern California Trojans

Playing through the smoke

Playing through the smoke

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