The college football world joined in a moment of silence with the Notre Dame and Georgia football programs at the Superdome on Thursday afternoon ahead of the 2025 Sugar Bowl, which was postponed by one day following New Orleans terror attack that killed 14 and injured dozens more on New Year’s Day.
The moment of silence was held right before the playing of the national anthem and was followed by chants of “USA.”
It was a fitting tribute to the victims of the attack, perpetrated by 42-year-old U.S. military veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday when he rammed a white pickup truck through crowds ringing in the New Year on Bourbon Street.
The deadly attack prompted city, state and federal authorities, along with members of the Sugar Bowl committee, to postpone Wednesday’s game, which had been scheduled to kick off at 8:45 p.m. ET.
They pushed back the contest to 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.
With news of the postponement, the Bulldogs and Fighting Irish spent most of Wednesday at their respective hotels.
In the evening, after the Superdome had been cleared by security, Georgia bussed into the venue and conducted a walkthrough practice.
Notre Dame players, meanwhile, congregated with family and friends to watch the Rose Bowl and Ohio State’s defeat of the previously unbeaten No. 1 Oregon Ducks.
No football was played in the Big Easy on Wednesday, but it was still an exhausting and heartbreaking day.
As Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame’s head coach, told his team, it is “in the toughest moments [that] the culture of any program, of a nation, is revealed.
“I have a lot of faith [that] this country will rally around the city of New Orleans and support all the victims and families that were affected today,” Freeman told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt during an appearance Wednesday evening.
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