USF, Gators, UCF games changed because of Hurricane Ian

USF, UCF and the Florida Gators all have changed this weekend’s home football games because of Hurricane Ian.

USF’s AAC opener against East Carolina has been moved to FAU Stadium. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. Saturday, and the game is scheduled to air on ESPN+.

The Gators’ home game against Eastern Washington is moving from Saturday to Sunday at noon. It will be shown on ESPN+ and SEC Network+.

UCF’s home game against SMU is being pushed back from Saturday to Sunday. It’s scheduled to start at 1 p.m. and will air on a to-be-determined ESPN network.

Nothing has changed for Saturday’s 3:30 matchup between No. 23 Florida State and No. 22 Wake Forest in Tallahassee. FSU athletic director Michael Alford said in a statement that after FSU’s latest briefing with first responders, administrators and others, the Seminoles “remain confident that we will be able to safely host Saturday’s football game against Wake Forest at its scheduled kickoff time.”

USF’s Hall of Fame induction banquet to honor former football star Quinton Flowers, former volleyball star Eric Berggren and former athletic director Paul Griffin also has been rescheduled because of the storm. Details for that ceremony will be announced later.

The Bulls planned to travel to Fort Lauderdale after Tuesday’s practice.

“With Hurricane Ian building into a powerful and potentially very impactful storm on the Bay area, the people and resources in our community, we felt it was in everyone’s best interest to move our game out of the Tampa Bay area,” USF athletic director Michael Kelly said in a statement. “We are very grateful to our friends and colleagues at FAU for their tremendous assistance and cooperation in using their facility to play Saturday’s game and to ECU and the Conference for working with us during this time.

“Our thoughts are with our Tampa Bay community and others in the state of Florida and beyond that have already or may soon see the destructive impacts of this storm and with the first responders and official agencies tasked with responding to this dangerous event. We hope everyone remains safe and heeds the official advisories as the storm approaches our area.”

At least one other game will be moved this weekend because of the storm. The State newspaper reported that South Carolina intends to move its home game against South Carolina State from Saturday to Thursday night.

This storm is the latest one to alter the college football schedule. Since 2015, at least 13 other state games were canceled, moved or postponed because of hurricanes. That list includes five cancelations in 2017 because of Irma, the Florida-LSU spat over Matthew in 2016 and FSU-Boise State being moved from Jacksonville to Tallahassee because of Dorian in 2019.

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