Hurricane Irma is forcing changes
The Miami Hurricanes decided to take the weekend off and many other teams around the state of Florida kept a very cautious eye Wednesday on powerful and destructive Hurricane Irma as it churned across the Atlantic on a path toward the U.S.
No. 16 Miami canceled its game at Arkansas State, in part out of concern that the Hurricanes may get stranded away from home if the storm strikes South Florida.
No. 10 Florida State and No. 22 Florida moved up their Saturday home games to midday starts, out of caution. A slew of other events were either canceled or rescheduled, all in deference to the storm that forecasters believe may start affecting the state by Saturday possibly as a direct hit.
“This is about what’s best for our students, coaching staff and their families,” Miami athletic director Blake James said, after telling Arkansas State about the decision that wasn’t exactly warmly received. “We’re not confident that we were going to get back after the game and we weren’t going to leave our players stranded somewhere. There’s bigger things than football.”
Arkansas State athletic director Terry Mohajir said his team offered several options to Miami, including moving the game to Friday night.
“Ultimately, the Miami administration made the decision not to travel,” Mohajir said.
Florida International is hitting the road, now set to play Alcorn State on Friday night at Birmingham, Alabama. That game was originally set to be FIU’s home opener (and first home game under Butch Davis) on Saturday, but Irma forced the switch to a neutral site.
FIU is taking about 70 other student-athletes from seven different teams on the trip to the UAB as well, relocating them all in the interest of safety. Officials at Houston and UTSA have decided the schools won’t play their game that was postponed because of Hurricane Harvey. The game was originally scheduled for Sept. 2 in San Antonio’s Alamodome. The schools had called off that game as the city of Houston was flooded by rains from Harvey, and had hoped to reschedule.