Hurricane Florence shakes up college football Week 3 schedule

Hurricane Florence has strengthened to a Category 4 storm and is expected to make landfall in the Carolina’s by the end of the week.

Hurricane Florence is expected to make landfall early Friday morning and is projecting to be one of the strongest storms to ever hit this area of the coast. As of Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center has upgraded Florence to a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 130 mph and many are forecasting it to become a Category 5 by Thursday.

With high winds and strong storm surges a known threat when a hurricane makes landfall, it’s the potential precipitation that could have catastrophic effects on the Carolina’s and Virginia this weekend. Florence is expected to produce 15-20 inches of rain, with isolated areas receiving 30 inches, by early next week.

While the citizens in the path of the storm should be everyone’s first concern, the storm will also force some college football teams to cancel or postponed their Week 3 games.

Prior to the storm, there were 10 games to be played in the area this weekend, with five already altering their plans.

West Virginia was scheduled to visit North Carolina State on Saturday afternoon but has officially been postponed with no scheduled make-up. Neither teams share a bye week, so unless the schedules can be shuffled around, don’t expect to see these teams face off until North Carolina State visits Morgantown in 2019.

North Carolina was scheduled to host UCF on Saturday, but this game has also been postponed with no scheduled make-up. This makes the second straight season UCF has been forced to cancel a game after Hurricane Irma affected their game with Georgia Tech in 2017.

Three other games have already made changes to the schedule as well. Campbell at Coastal Carolina has been moved from Conway, SC to Buies Creek, NC and will now be played on Wednesday afternoon. The Boston College/Wake Forest game was moved up to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday evening and Norfolk State vs. Liberty will now be played on Dec. 1.

Fans should also keep an eye on five other games in the area that have the potential to be canceled or postponed, including Marshall at South Carolina, ECU at Virginia Tech, Ohio at Virginia, Southern Miss at Appalachian State, and Old Dominion at Charlotte. Furthermore, Duke was forced to change its travel plans and leave a day early for its trip to Waco, TX for a game against Baylor.

South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia have already declared a state of emergency as the storm approaches, with mandatory evacuations put in place along the coast in the Carolina’s. Ohio and Virginia have been relocated to Vanderbilt Stadium.

As much as we all wanted to see these teams play on Saturday, the safety of the players, fans, and citizens in the affected areas should remain everyone’s top concern.

Stay tuned for more updates as the games and storm draw closer.