BATON ROUGE - LSU Athletics sent out a lengthy campus-wide notice Friday trying to explain why traffic was so bad after the LSU-Southern game last weekend, and how it plans to fix those problems this Saturday night.

LSU Athletics blamed an "unprecedented" fan attendance for the gridlock — both vehicle and foot traffic — at last weekend's game, which was the first time the Tigers and Jaguars played each other on the football field.

"We are confident that the unique circumstances of Saturday's game created problems that will not emerge at other contests this season," the athletics department said in a statement. 

University officials said they were unable to properly enact the contraflow plan thanks to the record number of people and vehicles that lingered on campus well into the night.

"For the reasons mentioned above, this plan was not executed efficiently or effectively," the statement added.

They also said confusion from drivers who were unfamiliar with the contraflow routes and drivers constantly stopping to ask if they can access closed roads "exponentially" inflated the delays. 

“We’ve identified some specific areas that we think can be improved. We’re gonna work with law enforcement to ensure that those are improved. The most important thing for us is for our fans to have a great experience before the game, during the game and after," said Cody Worsham with LSU Athletics.

For the upcoming game, the release said officers would be "more strategically placed," more barricades will be used, and more effective communications will be in place to implement contraflow much earlier.