Big weather has remained a story line through this young college football season. Nebraska and Iowa State had to cancel Week 1 games, while Penn State-Pitt and Clemson-Texas A&M (among others) were played through driving rain storms.
Mother Nature could play an even bigger part of Week 3 as Hurricane Florence prepares to bear down on the mid-Atlantic. Six days ahead of hosting No. 14 West Virginia, NC State has sent out the following message:
RE: NC State vs. West Virginia and a possible hurricane. pic.twitter.com/9oQrR8e2Tb
— Joe Ovies (@joeovies) September 9, 2018
The game is slated for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ESPNU.
For what it’s worth, the Wolfpack and Mountaineers do not share a common bye, so rescheduling a potentially canceled game would be a challenge before Dec. 1. West Virginia is off on Oct. 20, while NC State visits No. 2 Clemson that day. NC State is off Oct. 13, but West Virginia visits Iowa State.
According to the Weather Channel, Florence was more than 700 miles southwest of Bermuda as of Sunday morning, moving due west. Thursday is projected as the “most likely” landfall date, with nearly all of South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia inside the cone of uncertainty.
Based on that projection, the following games could possibly be affected:
- Boston College at Wake Forest (7:30 p.m. ET Thursday, ESPN)
- No. 18 UCF at North Carolina (noon ET, ESPNU)
- East Carolina at Virginia Tech (12:20 p.m. ET, ACC Network)
- Ohio at Virginia (2 p.m. ET, ACC Network)
- Georgia Southern at No. 2 Clemson (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2)
- No. 14 West Virginia at NC State (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU)
- Southern Miss at Appalachian State (3:30 p.m ET, ESPN Plus)
- Old Dominion at Charlotte (6 p.m. ET, ESPN3)
- Norfolk State at Liberty (6 p.m. ET, ESPN3)
- Campbell at Coastal Carolina (6 p.m. ET, ESPN3)
- Marshall at South Carolina (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU)
Obviously, this is all subject to change, dependent upon the whims of Mother Nature. But as always with hurricanes, plan for the worst.