The AAC wasn’t the only entity getting busy (twice) Thursday rescheduling in the aftermath of the chaos caused by Hurricane Irma.
As part of the AAC’s revamping of its schedule, UMass lost its Oct. 14 game against South Florida. Florida International, meanwhile, saw its game this weekend against Indiana canceled because of the logistical difficulties traveling to Bloomington amidst the storm damage in the state of Florida.
Given both teams’ need for a 12th game, the programs announced Thursday that UMass and FIU have reached agreement on a contract to play Dec. 2 this year. That contest will be played in Miami.
Should FIU qualify for the Conference USA championship game -- the Panthers were predicted to finish sixth in the East, and lost to UCF by 44 points in the opener -- the game this year would not be played. The previously scheduled game in 2020 would be unaffected by any result, while UMass would travel to FIU at some undetermined date beyond 2020 if this year’s game is not played for whatever reason.
The tweaked schedule gives the Minutemen an almost unheard of bye date on back-to-back weekends (Oct. 7 & 14) in the middle of their season.
It had previously been announced that FIU’s opponent in Week 3, Indiana, had replaced that game with an Oct. 7 game against Charleston Southern.