Georgia moves up kickoff as storm approaches

NCAAF

Hurricane Florence continues to impact college football games this week.

The kickoff for Middle Tennessee’s game at No. 3 Georgia on Saturday has been moved to noon due to concerns about the impact of the storm.

The game had been scheduled for a 7:15 p.m. kickoff.

Georgia announced Thursday the decision to move the kickoff time was made following “extensive evaluation involving the uncertainty of weather conditions on the east coast, and consideration of all constituencies involved including fans, support staff, and law enforcement.”

There is no rain in the current forecast for Saturday. Athens, in northeast Georgia, could be affected by outer bands of the storm on Sunday.

The game will be televised on ESPN News, instead of ESPN2.

Presbyterian has canceled its football game with Stetson on Saturday because of the approach of Hurricane Florence.

The FCS school was to play at home in Clinton, South Carolina. Presbyterian then shifted the game to the opponents’ home field in Florida. But Presbyterian athletic director Danny Sterling said it became clear travelling out of state was not safe for the team or fans.

Florence has altered the schedules of many programs the last two days, canceling games involving No. 13 Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Colgate‘s scheduled game at Furman was canceled because of the approaching storm. Colgate released its hotel rooms and donated the scheduled team meals.

“At the end of the day, you have to look at the big picture and that’s the safety of everyone involved,” Colgate coach Dan Hunt said. “And by that I mean the teams and families but also the allotment of resources used for the game that could be better used somewhere else.

“We immediately gave up our hotel rooms so that more rooms are now available to those coming inland. But we still bought the meals we were going to have and requested that the hotel serve those meals to the people who have been relocated, on us.”

Tennessee is offering free tickets for the Vols’ noon game vs. UTEP in Knoxville to those displaced by the storm.

In Georgia, the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Falcons are also lending support to those affected by Hurricane Florence.

The Braves are offering free tickets for their three-game series starting Friday against the Nationals to any person from the Carolinas forced to evacuate because of the storm.

The Falcons, meanwhile, have donated $1 million toward hurricane relief efforts.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

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