Florence forces 3 games with ranked teams off weekend slate
Hurricane Florence has forced the cancellation of several Top 25 games this weekend, including No. 13 Virginia Tech’s home game against East Carolina, No. 14 West Virginia’s trip to North Carolina State and No. 18 UCF’s game at North Carolina.
The Category 4 storm’s approach led to a series of schedule adjustments Tuesday for teams in the Carolinas and Virginia. The University of Virginia’s scheduled home game Saturday against Ohio was relocated to Nashville, Tennessee and the start time for Wake Forest’s Atlantic Coast Conference home game Thursday against Boston College was moved up. The decisions were made as Florence appears set to come ashore along the Carolinas’ coastline late Thursday or early Friday with strong winds and heavy rain.
Several of the schools appeared to be publicly in agreement on the need for schedule changes due to Florence, though East Carolina’s decision not to travel to Blacksburg nixed Saturday’s game. ECU — which has already called off the rest of the week’s classes — cited “significant imminent safety concerns” that included “the high probability of a catastrophic impact on the region and perilous travel conditions before, during and after the storm.”
East Carolina’s announcement also noted the Greenville campus’ history with serious flooding issues from Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016. “It is ECU’s hope the game can be rescheduled at a later date this season,” the school said.
In its own release, Virginia Tech officials had planned to wait until Wednesday to determine the status of the game based on updated storm projections.
“We will do what’s best for Virginia Tech moving forward as it relates to East Carolina and to the game,” Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock said in a Tuesday statement. “We certainly understand the need for safety, of course, we just felt that tomorrow, making the decision then, would’ve been more responsible and accurate. We informed ECU of this multiple times.”