The Northern Colorado Bears at Florida Gators football game, which was previously moved to noon on Saturday, has been canceled, Florida announced on Thursday.
Hurricane Irma, currently a category 5 storm and packing record winds, is heading for Florida. Due to the need for public safety officials during and after the storm, the Gators decided to cancel the game and it will not be rescheduled.
“We have been in constant communication this week with University and government officials,” said Florida Athletics Director Scott Stricklin. “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.”
20th-ranked Florida opened the season with a 33-17 loss to now No. 8 Michigan at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Northern Colorado, a member of the Big Sky Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), opened their season with a 41-14 win over College of Idaho.
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