Memphis and Central Florida will be playing this year after all.
The schools and the American Athletic Conference confirmed that the Tigers would travel to Orlando to play the Knights on September 30th in a game that was previously scheduled for September 9th but was moved due to Hurricane Irma hitting the state last week.
“I would like to thank the presidents and athletic directors at Memphis and UCF, whose cooperation made this possible,” said AAC commissioner Mike Aresco. “I also want to thank Georgia State athletic director Charlie Cobb, Sun Belt Conference commissioner Karl Benson, and Maine athletic director Karlton Creech for their flexibility and cooperation. We look forward to playing our full, 48-game conference schedule and having our champion decided on the field.”
As a result of the game being moved, both Memphis and UCF bought out of their games (likely with help from the conference coffers) with Georgia State and Maine, respectively, that were originally set to take place on 9/30. The Panthers announced that they would receive a whopping $1.1 million in cancellation fees and expenses as a result of the move.
Moving Memphis/UCF was the final piece of the puzzle for the AAC in order to get all of the games canceled or moved due to Hurricane Irma in this year. All of the other games that were moved due to the storm were announced earlier on Thursday and details can be found here.