Hurricane Irma, currently a Category 5 hurricane, continues to have an affect on week two of the college football schedule. FIU at UCF has already been moved to Friday, and now one game has been canceled altogether.
The Miami Hurricanes were scheduled to travel to take on the Arkansas State Red Wolves this Saturday. But due to Irma and its likely affect on the Miami team trying to return home from Jonesboro, Arkansas, the game has been canceled.
Arkansas State and Miami don’t share an open date this season, and the Red Wolves are scheduled to play a regular-season game on Dec. 2. Therefore, the game won’t be made up this season.
It remains to be seen whether Miami will eventually play at Arkansas State in a future season. Most contracts have stipulations that games canceled due to hurricanes do not have to be made up and that neither party is financially liable to the other.
“Having lived in Palm Beach County for seven years, my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in South Florida as they prepare for Hurricane Irma,” Arkansas State Director of Athletics Terry Mohajir said via a statement.
“Over the past 24 hours I had numerous exchanges with University of Miami Athletics Director Blake James, offering to make additional accommodations for his players and program to assist them with their trip to Memphis and Jonesboro. This morning I spoke with Blake (James), who informed me their team will not be making the trip to Jonesboro to play in our game this Saturday.
“I appreciate the Sun Belt Conference office, Commissioner Karl Benson and ESPN’s work to give us the option to move the game and broadcast to Friday night, which gave the University of Miami an alternative. Ultimately, the Miami administration made the decision not to travel.
“We are currently working through all the variables associated with the game not being played. We will keep the fan base and media updated as we know more.”
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