LSU coach Ed Orgeron said the country "needs football" during a visit by Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday in Baton Rouge.
Orgeron spoke during a roundtable discussion at Tiger Stadium on reopening Louisiana schools in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
"We need to play. This state needs it. This country needs it," Orgeron said as Pence applauded.
Louisiana's confirmed coronavirus caseload is among the fastest growing per capita across the country, and its infection and hospitalization rates are surging, worrying public health experts in a state that previously seemed to be successfully flattening the curve of infections.