No. 22 Florida’s home opener against Northern Colorado, scheduled for Saturday afternoon, has been cancelled due to the impending threat of Hurricane Irma, the school announced on Thursday afternoon. The Gators’ game against the Bears was originally rescheduled from 7 p.m. to noon before the decision was ultimately made to cancel it.
Florida’s home opener vs. Northern Colorado cancelled due to Hurricane Irma
The game will not be rescheduled.
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
“We have been in constant communication this week with University and government officials,” Florida AD Scott Stricklin said in a statement. “As the Hurricane’s track has approached the state of Florida, it’s become obvious that playing a football game is not the right thing to do. The focus of our state and region needs to be on evacuations and relief efforts. There is a tremendous amount of stress currently on the roads of this state, and the availability of gas, water and other supplies are at critical levels. Playing a college football game Saturday would only add to that stress.
“Gainesville is also close to some of Florida’s heaviest traffic points this week, specifically Interstate 75, which is a key statewide evacuation route.”
Florida’s release adds that the athletic department was working with Northern Colorado to have them charter a flight to Gainesville on Friday, instead of the Bears’ original plans of traveling commercially Thursday to Tampa.
The game will not be rescheduled since the two teams do not share common bye weeks.
The most recent projection of Irma’s path has shifted further west, causing a direct impact on South Florida as a Category 4 storm before it moves north through Florida.
This is the second Florida school that has cancelled its game -- Miami’s game at Arkansas State was cancelled earlier this week.
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