Sugar Bowl postponed: Georgia-Notre Dame game postponed

The College Football Playoff quarterfinal game at the 2025 Sugar Bowl has been postponed after 15 people were killed and about 30 people were injured in New Orleans early Wednesday morning when a gunman drove a pickup truck into a large crowd on Bourbon Street in a deadly attack .

Jeff Hundley, CEO of the Sugar Bowl committee, announced that after consultation with officials from all parties involved, the game will now be played on Thursday. “Everyone agrees that it is in the best interest of everyone and public safety to postpone the game,” Hundley told reporters.

CFP No. 2 seed Georgia and No. 7 seed Notre Dame were originally scheduled to kick off in the Sugar Bowl game on Wednesday at 8:45 p.m. ET. The two teams will now play each other on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. ET, with the winner advancing to face No. 6 seed Penn State in the CFP semifinals on Jan. 9 in the Orange Bowl.

“There’s just too much we don’t know. It’s just not worth it,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said during a news conference with state, city and law enforcement officials, addressing the decision to postpone the game.

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The fatal incident in New Orleans occurred around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to the city’s emergency officials, just over 16 hours before Notre Dame and Georgia were scheduled to begin their quarterfinal game less than a mile away at Caesars Superdome. According to Anne Kirkpatrick, superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, the driver was driving at a high rate of speed and within moments began firing at officers from the vehicle.

USA TODAY confirmed to New Orleans police that the driver was fatally shot by police. The FBI said in an initial statement Wednesday that it was “working with our partners to investigate this as an act of terrorism.” The FBI identified the driver as 42-year-old U.S. citizen and Texas resident Shamsud Din Jabbar. Federal law enforcement officials said there was an ISIS flag, weapons and a potential IED in the suspect’s vehicle. There were also other potential IEDs in the French Quarter, according to the FBI, which also said it did not believe Jabbar acted alone.

Kirkpatrick said the Sugar Bowl game will initially be played as scheduled. Bill Cassidy, a Republican U.S. senator in Louisiana, also said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday that he was “extremely confident” that the Sugar Bowl game would go ahead.

“The standard procedure at a big game like the Sugar Bowl, a Saints game or the Super Bowl is to walk through the building, make sure nothing is amiss and then lock it down,” Cassidy said. “The Sugar Bowl, the Superdome was locked down. There won’t be a problem.”

University of Georgia President Jere Morehead announced Wednesday that one of the victims critically injured in the early morning violence was a Georgia student. Notre Dame said it was “working with law enforcement and others to determine the full extent and impact of the tragedy.”

Former senior U.S. counterterrorism official Javed Ali told USA TODAY that things may evolve as the FBI investigation progresses, including scenarios that could impact the Sugar Bowl.

Based on previous releases from the FBI and other agencies: “This was not just a single individual acting on his own initiative, and as many other individuals are involved in this conspiracy, they are currently at large,” said Ali, who is not involved in the investigation, but has held senior positions in the US Secret Service at several agencies.

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Sugar Bowl postponed: Georgia-Notre Dame game postponed

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