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On Saturday, Florida State University announced that all campuses would be closed through Friday, September 15th. This closure, due to the projected path of Hurricane Irma, means that, among other things, the Seminoles’ football team would not have a single day of practice next week.
The University of Miami is already closed, fully evacuated, and will remain closed until further notice. And, again, that means the Canes’ football team would not have practice for an indeterminate amount of time.
In light of those developments, Corey Clark of the Tallahassee Democrat and Susan Miller Degnan of the Miami Herald both reported today that it is “likely” that the game between Miami and Florida State will be rescheduled to October 7th.
Not exactly a stunner here, but FSU-Miami game likely to be pushed back to October. https://t.co/U0e3BneBKt
— Corey Clark/TDO.com (@Corey_Clark) September 9, 2017
NEW: Expect @CanesFootball & @FSUFootball to reschedule game to Oct. 7... five days before UM plays Georgia Tech. https://t.co/me4WiLTYnx pic.twitter.com/ETFDXxAWwF
— Susan Miller Degnan (@smillerdegnan) September 9, 2017
As stated by both Clark and Miller Degnan, October 7th is the workable date for this game because both teams are currently scheduled to have a bye week (off date) on that day.
Unlike Miami’s game against Arkansas State or Florida State’s game against Louisiana-Monroe, this is an ACC conference game, which means it needs to be made up. FSU has said they would like to reschedule the ULM game, which I believe to be based in a desire to make their ticket and concession money from hosting.
Both Clark and Miller Degnan reported that an official announcement of Miami-FSU being rescheduled to October 7th could come as early as Sunday.
Obviously, this would mean that both teams would go 2 weeks without playing football. But, as Hurricane Irma approaches the State of Florida, with an impact yet to be known, and FSU having ALREADY announced a fullscale closure for the entirety of the next week, it seems a forgone conclusion that this game will be moved back into October.
Aside from being the best move for all parties, moving the FSU game to October 7 means Miami would then have a short week — only 5 days — before hosting Georgia Tech on a Thursday night, instead of having a bye week and 12 days to prepare for the Yellow Jackets.
More analysis and commentary on this will be forthcoming, but at this juncture, fans should expect to hear that Miami-FSU will be rescheduled from September 16 to October 7th sooner rather than later.