Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane Thursday night, and we could see some college football schedule changes over the weekend as impacted programs figure out alternate plans. The hurricane, which formed Tuesday in the Caribbean Sea, has wreaked havoc across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, leaving millions without power.
More than 4 million customers were without power across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas as of Friday morning after Helene made landfall late Thursday as a monster Category 4 storm.
Here are some of the first images of rescues and damage caused by Helene.… pic.twitter.com/ovDK0LwmW2
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) September 27, 2024
On Friday, it was announced that the Appalachian State-Liberty game scheduled for Saturday has been canceled. It will not be rescheduled. Appalachian State University is located in Boone, North Carolina, which is near the Tennessee state line. Video showed severe flooding in the downtown area.
The ACC matchup between Stanford and No. 17 Clemson was initially in jeopardy after Stanford’s flight was canceled on Thursday. Per ESPN’s Andrea Adelson, Stanford sat on the tarmac on Thursday before the flight to South Carolina called off. The Cardinal then flew out on Friday afternoon after some rescheduling. As of Friday, the game has not officially been canceled or postponed.
Stanford had boarded its plane and sat on the tarmac waiting for takeoff before its flight was canceled yesterday. Buses are set to leave campus to head back to the airport at 1 ET, and flight is on as scheduled. Remember, Stanford was at Syracuse last week. Not ideal! https://t.co/TW0HWYFHF5
— Andrea Adelson (@aadelsonESPN) September 27, 2024
As for other potential impacts in college football, the Florida Gators are on a bye week, so they don’t have to worry about hurricane scheduling. Florida State is playing SMU in Dallas on Saturday night, so while their game isn’t expected to be affected, it’s possible their travel plans could be.
But there are several home games in Florida this weekend: UCF is hosting Colorado in Orlando on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET, and the Miami Hurricanes are hosting Virginia Tech on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET. And while the storm will have lessened in strength after traveling inland to Tennessee, the weather there is still expected to be atrocious.
Georgia is also traveling to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday night, another matchup that could be impacted by the storm for both teams and fans traveling to the game.
Currently, none of those games have been postponed, but one other has been: Florida A&M University vs. Alabama A&M. That contest has been rescheduled to Nov. 29.
