Yesterday, I-95 was still closed in SC. Not that SC would take buses from Columbia to Jax, but if they were, they might not have been able to easily get there. It may not even be easy to get out of Columbia, period.
USC has already played a game in Charlotte - their fans probably wouldn't be able to get there, anyway. Part of the statement made mention of the safety of the fans in traveling to the game, and it might have been really difficult for many USC fans to even get to Charlotte. It sucks for USC that they'll have to play in Baton Rouge, but when you consider involving the minimum number of people traveling, this was probably the best choice.
Steve's boys were gonna get their clocks cleaned, regardless of wherever they played this one. Given that LSU always wears white at home, the least they can do is "designate" USC as the "home" team, but maybe USC will insist on being the visitor so that they can get the coin flip.
The report quoted here in Savannah on our CBS affiliate, WTOC, stated that USC's prez and AD thanked LSU's counterparts in their efforts to arrange this at the last moment, and that they're looking into figuring out how to reimburse their fans for a game they won't get to see in person.
Given the tragedy of what we're seeing just 60 to 80 miles north of us here in Savannah (thankfully, we only got 2-3 inches of rain, not 2 to 3 feet), this pales in comparison. Plenty of USC fans and alumni lost more than a football game in the past five days, many lost their homes.