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Is Sugar Bowl canceled after deadly attack in New Orleans? Updated kickoff time, date

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the round of the Sugar Bowl in the College Football Playoff

The Sugar Bowl in New Orleans is postponed a day following an act of terrorism at a New Year's Eve celebration early Wednesday morning. The new kickoff time is 4 p.m. ET Thursday.

The change, which was confirmed by Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley at a news conference Wednesday, came hours after officials initially said the game would be played as scheduled.

At least 10 people were killed and as many as 35 people were injured when a man drove a pickup truck into a large crowd on Bourbon Street. Police confirmed to USA TODAY that the driver was fatally shot by police.

The incident occured around 3:15 a.m., according to the city's emergency responders, a little over 16 hours before Notre Dame and Georgia were scheduled to kick off in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Caesars Superdome about a half mile away.

Wednesday morning, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said the Sugar Bowl would be played as scheduled and multiple people assured the public that security at the stadium was not a concern.

However, as more details emerged about the attack, calls grew for the game to be postponed.

Stadium security for Sugar Bowl

“The Sugar Bowl is huge. Lots of people will be watching,” Juliette Kayyem, a former top U.S. Department of Homeland Security official, told CNN.  “It should go on. The police department has lots of resources to draw on. It can protect the investigation and also draw on other local and state resources to protect people going to the bowl.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La) also appeared on CNN on Wednesday morning and was "extremely confident" the college football bowl game would be played and that "there is going to be no problem there."

"The standard operating procedure for a big game like the Sugar Bowl, for a Saints game, for the Super Bowl is to go through the building, make sure there's nothing there that's wrong, and then to lock it down. The Sugar Bowl, the Superdome has been locked down."

Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley released a statement Wednesday morning expressing sympathy for victims and their families.

"The Sugar Bowl Committee is devastated by the terrible events from early this morning," he posted on social media platform X. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We are in ongoing discussions with authorities on the local, state, and federal levels and will communicate further details as they become available.”

Editor's note: This story was updated with new information and a new video. Headlines were updated to more accurately reflect the nature of the attack.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is Sugar Bowl canceled? Game postponed after deadly New Orleans attack