Sports
Miami Hurricanes Football: Game Vs. Arkansas State Canceled
While traveling to Jonesboro, Arkansas would be no trouble for the Hurricanes (the team), the return trip would be quite dicey.
CORAL GABLES, FL — Hurricane Irma's impending arrival forced officials to cancel Saturday's football game between No. 16 Miami and Arkansas State.
While traveling to Jonesboro, Arkansas would be no trouble for the Hurricanes (the team), the return trip would be quite dicey as the storm —currently a Category 5 hurricane — steamrolls toward the Florida coast. It is projected to affect Florida over the weekend. The game will not be made up this year.
"This is about what's best for our students, coaching staff and their families," Miami athletic director Blake James told The Associated Press. "We're not confident that we were going to get back after the game and we weren't going to leave our players stranded somewhere. There's bigger things than football." (For more information on the Miami Hurricanes team and other Coral Gables stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)
Find out what's happening in Coral Gables-Coconut Grovefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The NFL also decided Wednesday to move the Tampa Bay at Miami game — originally scheduled for Sunday — to Nov. 19. That decision means the Dolphins and Bucs will play 16 consecutive weeks, starting in Week 2, since Week 11 was set to be the bye week for both clubs.
The Dolphins canceled practice for the rest of the week, and some players were looking to evacuate. So, too, were some members of the Miami Hurricanes' women's basketball team — they were heading to Georgia and out of Irma's expected path. Miami has canceled classes until at least Monday.
Find out what's happening in Coral Gables-Coconut Grovefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Florida International's home game with Alcorn State, scheduled for Saturday night, will not be played in Miami — and the teams were working Wednesday on a plan to meet at a neutral site on Friday.
No. 10 Florida State and No. 22 Florida, both scheduled to play at home on Saturday night, are also monitoring Irma. Florida State Moved its kickoff to earlier in the day.
Dozens of high school football games in Florida were either cancelled or rescheduled, and Miami also cancelled two volleyball matches, two women's soccer games and a cross country meet because of the expected storm.
Photo credit:Jason Csizmadi via Flickr/Creative Commons