NATCHITOCHES – Travel for its season-opening game Saturday night at Texas Tech started ahead of schedule for the Northwestern State football team Wednesday evening, with the enthusiastic Demons heading toward Lubbock a day early due to concerns about Tropical Storm Isaac.
 
With the NSU campus closed through Labor Day, the squad worked out Wednesday morning in a spirited session at Turpin Stadium, as 15-25 mph outer band winds from Isaac buffered the players and coaches.
 
“There's a pretty good breeze out in west Texas, so getting some work in wind today might be helpful on Saturday. You can try to simulate crowd noise, but you can't simulate wind,” said fourth-year Demons coach Bradley Dale Peveto, whose team also encountered very welcome moderate temperatures in a mostly overcast session.
 
“We're worried about family and friends, and really everybody, to the south of us, and our prayers are for their safety. Our cell phones will be busy over the next couple of days touching base,” he said. “But we're starting a business trip, a day ahead of plan, and I don't doubt our focus on the task at hand.
 
“I've got to compliment our administration, and our equipment staff and everyone for working to make it possible for us to get going ahead of the storm's arrival,” he said. “We're grateful to coach Gary Patterson and our friends at TCU for making their facilities available to us Thursday morning for practice.”
 
NSU drove to Fort Worth Wednesday evening and will continue to Lubbock Thursday afternoon.
 
The Demons worked out with fight songs blaring over the Turpin Stadium sound system on Tuesday, but didn't duplicate that Wednesday.
 
“Texas Tech has one of the toughest, best homefield environments in college football. We were at the best last season when we played at LSU, but I've played at Texas Tech (twice as a safety and special teams captain at SMU from 1982-86) and I told our guys today, we are walking to a wild situation. Out there in west Texas, these games are the biggest events of their year and they get geared up beyond belief,” said Peveto.
 
Following the nationally-televised game at Texas Tech, the Demons will take Sunday and Monday off, with a Monday evening team meeting on Labor Day ushering in game week work for the Sept. 8 home opener against Arkansas-Monticello.