NEW ORLEANS — The College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame was postponed, hours after a man drove into a crowd and killed 10 people and injured at least 35 in a terrorist attack early Wednesday morning in New Orleans.

The Sugar Bowl was scheduled to be played in the Superdome Wednesday night but was postponed until Thursday at 3 p.m.

“We have been in consultation with ESPN, the College Football Playoff, New Orleans police and the FBI, all parties, and all agree it’s in the best interest and public safety to postpone the game for 24 hours,” Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said. “We live in the fun and games world, but we recognize the importance of this.”

New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said that, at approximately 3:15 a.m., a man drove a white Ford pickup truck at a high rate of speed into a crowd at the corner of Bourbon and Canal streets. He continued for nearly three blocks until colliding with a scissors lift parked in front of the Royal Sonesta Hotel, between Bienville and Conti streets.

The man then fired on police after crashing the vehicle, and was killed in the exchange of gunfire.

The FBI said the attacker has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran from Texas.

“This is not just an act of terrorism. This is an act of evil,” Kirkpatrick said.

Practical as well as emotional considerations led to the decision to postpone the Sugar Bowl. Most of the officers in the New Orleans Police Department were being pulled into some facet of the investigation following the attack and likely would have been stretched thin providing enhanced security for the football game.

In addition to weapons found in Jabbar’s truck, an improvised explosive device was discovered. Kirkpatrick said officers were “walking a grid” through the French Quarter to sweep for more potential explosives, and the FBI said two had been found.

The Superdome was on lockdown for security sweeps Wednesday, and the security perimeter was to be extended before the game on Thursday.

“With law enforcement assets that would typically be allocated to an event of this stature currently engaged in active investigations related to the incident, the postponement will allow for additional security resources to be put in place in order to maintain the typical standards of a major event in the Caesars Superdome,” the College Football Playoff committee said in a statement.

Statements from the University of Georgia Athletic Association and from Notre Dame said both schools had accounted for all team personnel and members of official travel parties.

“Rest assured the decision that was made to postpone the game was not done lightly,” said U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, whose district includes most of New Orleans. “It was done with one single thing in mind: public safety — making sure that the citizens and visitors of this great city, not only for this event, but for every event you come to in Louisiana, that you will be safe. And we will use every resource possible.”