Storm won't postpone Rutgers-Tulane

Updated: August 30, 2012, 10:17 PM ET

Despite the impact of Hurricane Isaac, Tulane's season opener with Rutgers will be played as scheduled Saturday night in New Orleans at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The decision to play, made Thursday morning, comes after the Superdome survived the storm with only superficial damage to surrounding signs, banners and landscaping.

Superdome chief Doug Thornton said the stadium never lost power and its roof never leaked. He said key Superdome personnel are returning to work Thursday to get the stadium ready to host college football.

Although the dome was in good shape Wednesday night, Tulane officials waited on a final decision to play until they could evaluate the condition of the community and confirm whether the airport would be ready for Rutgers' charter flight on Friday.

Some other Louisiana teams weren't as fortunate as Tulane. Louisiana Tech's Thursday night opener against Texas A&M in Shreveport, La., was postponed until Oct. 13, and Nicholls State's Saturday game at Oregon State was postponed because of the Colonels' travel issues.

Tulane traveled to Birmingham, Ala., on Monday to avoid Isaac and has practiced there over the past two days. The team planned to practice there again Thursday and Friday morning before returning to New Orleans.

In 2008, Tulane was forced to evacuate to Birmingham because of Hurricane Gustav. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina's devastation of the area required Tulane to play all 11 of its games away from New Orleans.

Brett McMurphy covers college sports for ESPN. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.