Alabama and Georgia are in states of emergency as Hurricane Isaias inches closer to making landfall along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Yet the Crimson Tide and Bulldog football programs shouldn't fear any massive changes to Saturday's highly-anticipated matchup.
The latest weather forecasts for the 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff call for the tropical storm-like conditions to have passed by the Tuscaloosa area already. However, the two teams and fans in attendance will still be dealing with rain and wind. The heavyweight SEC rivalry game is shaping up to be a muddy slog fest. As of Wednesday, the Crimson Tide program was moving forward with game day preparations as planned.
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Hurricane Isaias was reported to have increased in strength to a significant Category 3 hurricane on Friday, with the eye of the storm located over 200 miles south of Pensacola, Florida. It was expected to make landfall along the Alabama and Florida coastlines the same night. It'll move further inland and weaken towards the northern part of Alabama over the weekend, well clear of Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Contingency plans for Georgia-Alabama if Hurricane Isaias impacts game day
In the event Hurricane Isaias makes a dramatic shift in direction once it makes landfall, SEC organizers and the University of Alabama will have to consider some options about the game Saturday. None of those plans have been made public but there are some educated guesses to be made should they become necessary.
The most obvious option would be to delay kickoff until lightning (if any is present) ends or moves the appropriate distance away from the stadium. We've already seen multiple games this season, including Alabama's Week 3 bout with Florida State, be delayed for several hours due to storm conditions. This is the most likely scenario should the storm be more of an impact at kickoff.
If the storm is going to dramatically effect the Tuscaloosa area on Saturday, the SEC could consider postponing the game as moving it to an entirely different facility -- even if rescheduled for Sunday or Monday -- would be highly impractical. While the conference would probably prefer to avoid competing with the NFL on a Sunday or even Monday evening, there may be no better option in the event of severe conditions re-forecasted.
Crimson Tide and Bulldog fans shouldn't be worried, however. It appears the game will go on as scheduled but the wet conditions may impact the game plan for both squads. Ball security will be all-important for the undefeated rivals as control of the SEC going forward is at stake. Who doesn't love some old school, filthy football?
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