South Carolina-Georgia 'will be played in Columbia'

In its latest release regarding this Saturday's scheduled South Carolina-Georgia football game, South Carolina says that the game will be played in Columbia and that a decision on the time of the game will be made Thursday:

The University of South Carolina and its athletics department are continuing to monitor the movements of Hurricane Matthew as it relates to the scheduled football game with the University of Georgia.

We are in communication with the National Weather Service, state and local authorities and the SEC regarding potential weather issues.We anticipate a decision about the game to be made on Thursday.

The safety of everyone affected by the storm and the minimization of the impact on emergency personnel are the most important factors in making the decision.

The USC vs. UGA game will be played in Columbia. Currently, kickoff is still slated for 7:30 pm Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium.

ALSO SEE: Midweek thoughts and insights from Chris Clark | Georgia OL returns to Columbia, enjoys recent trip | Following the future - How did commits and targets perform?

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Wednesday 3:30 p.m. update:

As officials continue to monitor the potential path of Hurricane Matthew and its effect on the state of South Carolina, the South Carolina-Georgia game, scheduled for 7:30 Saturday at Williams-Brice, is still on as originally planned.

South Carolina associate athletics director Charles Bloom joined 107.5 The Game with Jay Phillips and Tommy Moody Wednesday afternoon shortly after 3:00 to update the public on what is obviously a very fluid situation.

"In a perfect world, you want the game to be played as it's scheduled," Bloom said in the on-air interview. "You plan on that until you can't. We talk about a moving target. Do we have enough police? Can we get the teams in here? Are we risking safety of our fans getting to the stadium? How's the weather going to look at kickoff?

"If you look at our goals, you hope you can play in Columbia, that's the No. 1. You don't want to move it to another venue. We went through that last year. We would rather not do it again this year, so our focus is having the game in Columbia.

"And then you look at, okay, scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 and you want to make sure that we can have that game. You look at, if you can't have it at 7:30, when can you play it? If you look at scenarios, playing around with dates and times, outside of that 7:30 Saturday is something that you have to look at."

While Bloom did not talk specifically about other potential game times, he did not rule out the possibility of the game being played in Columbia on Sunday or Monday.

Bloom was asked specifically about the possibility of the game being moved to Athens, Ga. in wake of Carolina playing a home game at LSU last year after flooding devastated parts of the Columbia area. There have also been rumors, and reports, that the Georgia Dome in Atlanta was a possible venue for the contest.

"I would say at this point the chances are very, very minimal that this game would be moved out of Columbia," Bloom said. "I wouldn't want to go down that path. I don't think we're there, unless the forecast would change, and Columbia would take a direct hit. The question you would ask is, do you play in Columbia on Sunday or Monday versus in Athen on Saturday? I think that's an easy answer for us."

Bloom did not have a timetable for a final decision as South Carolina is in regular contact with the SEC, local authorities and the national weather service as they try to get the latest and most accurate information in making a decision on what can best be described as a moving target.

Blooms says a number of considerations have to be made when hosting a game, such as the number of highway patrolmen it takes, visiting team accommodations and travel, game officials hotel and travels and the television networks' ability to broadcast the game.

While Carolina plans to do all it can to play the football game in Columbia, at the end of the day, the No. 1 priority is the the security and safety of the people of the state of South Carolina.

"You don't want to pull people out of there. When I say people, I mean emergency personnel and safety personnel," Bloom said. "If they're needed on the coast, and we can't host a football game because of that, you have to revisit that.

"A football game is important to a lot of people and decisions are made. But there are life and death issues out there and it's monitored on a very high level. We're not going to risk people's lives and take emergency people away from people who really need it in order to host a football game."

ALSO SEE: Midweek thoughts and insights from Chris Clark | Georgia OL returns to Columbia, enjoys recent trip | Following the future - How did commits and targets perform?