As Hurricane Florence heads towards the East Coast of the United States, the Carolinas are bracing for a potentially devastating storm. And along with forcing the evacuation of more than one million people in the region, the hurricane is also prompting changes to this weekend’s college football schedule.
Several games that were scheduled to take place on Saturday have been impacted by the storm, with contests in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia being called into question by Hurricane Florence.
Safety First for Southern Schools
In some cases, schools have simply decided to move up their games to make sure they can get them in before the storm hits the coast.
That even goes for one game that was already scheduled for Thursday. Boston College was set to visit Wake Forest on Thursday evening, but the game was moved up a few hours to 5:30 pm in order to ensure attending the game will be feasible for the teams, stadium staff, and fans.
“It looks like we can do it in a safe way for our players, for BC’s players, and for our fans,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson told the Associated Press. “We’re ready to play the game. There’s more to consider. We just have to keep monitoring it and making sure it’s the right thing to do.”
Other games faced more significant changes. A game between Campbell and Coastal Carolina was moved from Saturday to Wednesday, and will be held in North Carolina rather than Conway, South Carolina. Old Dominion will visit Charlotte on Thursday rather than Saturday, while Ohio will still travel to play Virginia on Saturday – but the two teams will meet in Nashville at Vanderbilt Stadium.
Hurricane Florence Postpones Several Contests
Several other games were postponed, with no immediate rescheduling announced. Games at the University of North Carolina, Virginia Tech, NC State and Appalachian State are all off, with new dates yet to be determined. Norfolk State’s visit to Liberty, in Lynchburg, Virginia, has been rescheduled for Dec. 1.
On Wednesday, schools continued to carefully monitor the storm, and it’s likely that plans will continue to shift as the course of Hurricane Florence becomes more certain. For instance, Clemson announced Wednesday afternoon that their Saturday visit to Georgia Southern would move up to noon from 3:30 pm.
“Clemson University officials continue to work with emergency management personnel, the ACC Office and Georgia Southern officials this week in preparation for Hurricane Florence and how it may alter operations for the game on Sunday,” Clemson said in a press release.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Hurricane Florence was a Category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph. The eye of the storm was located about 435 miles southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina.
The hurricane was expected to approach the coast of North Carolina or South Carolina on Thursday and Friday, then move inland over Georgia, dumping as much of 15 inches of rain over much of the southeast. Projections suggest that some parts of coastal North Carolina’s eastern tip could see storm surges that leave the region under more than nine feet of water.
