UM at FSU football kickoff time, site, to remain same, official says
The game will go on as previously scheduled.
The Miami Hurricanes and Florida State Seminoles, in conjunction with the Atlantic Coast Conference, have decided to keep their huge rivalry game exactly the way it was supposed to be before the threat of a tropical storm/hurricane — at 3:30 p.m. Saturday (ESPN) at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee.
FSU officials confirmed to the Miami Herald in an email Thursday afternoon, that “after confirming plans based on the 2:30 p.m. weather update, the Florida State vs. Miami football game will kick off as scheduled at 3:30 p.m.’’
Had the time or location been changed, it would have been the fourth time this season that a UM football game had been altered from its original scheduling.
Putting the game in question was a tropical depression that began to threaten the Florida panhandle on Wednesday, turned into Tropical Storm Nate and then was forecast to possibly become Hurricane Nate, which originally appeared to be heading right smack at Tallahassee, site of the big game. But by late Thursday morning, projections had the storm shifting west of the Florida panhandle and Tallahassee, heading toward Louisiana or the Mississippi coast.
Tallahassee, however, could still be affected by wind and rain.
Last month, Hurricane Irma, which before it made landfall Sept. 10, set off a chain of events for No. 13 Miami (3-0, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) that included:
▪ The evacuation of UM’s campus on Sept. 6, which caused the Hurricanes to mobilize in Orlando and practice there for several days
▪ The cancelation of what would have been UM’s second game of the season Sept. 9 at Arkansas State
▪ The postponement of UM’s original Sept. 16 game against FSU to Saturday
▪ The switch from UM’s Oct. 12 home game against Georgia Tech to Oct. 14
FSU (1-2, 1-1) had to cancel its home opener against Louisiana Monroe, originally scheduled for Sept. 9.
Both schools said Wednesday they were monitoring the situation and were in contact with the ACC. It was obvious the switch had to be announced early enough to get logistics decided, inform the public and give fans enough time to get to the game.
“That’s kind of just something else to deal with, I guess,’’ UM senior Braxton Berrios said Wednesday when he was first told about the storm brewing. “Whatever it is, we’ll take it in stride, like we have this season.’’
This story was originally published October 5, 2017 at 2:54 PM with the headline "UM at FSU football kickoff time, site, to remain same, official says."