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UPDATE
Ross Dellenger reports Saturday’s game between LSU and Florida has been canceled and will not be rescheduled.
UPDATE, 3:52 — From the LSU release, there is a chance of a reschedule.
Original Story
The University of Florida confirmed Wednesday evening that the Florida-LSU football game will be played in Gainesville, despite the incoming Hurricane Matthew. F. King Alexander told the Advocate that UF is still monitoring the situation hasn’t ruled out moving the game to later in the day.
Alexander also confirmed that the chances of the game being moved to Sunday were also not high and no plans were being made by LSU to host the game.
A final decision about the start time for the game will be made at noon on Thursday. As of now, the kickoff is still expected to be the original 11 a.m. CST.
UF’s stance comes after two days of speculation about how the storm could impact the game with the idea that the game would have to be relocated in some capacity for both safety and quality of play purposes.
According to the Advocate, LSU will fly into Tampa, an area which is not projected to be in the path of the Hurricane, instead of the usual landing site of Ocala.
While the Gators might deserve some praise for going through with game plans despite the storm, this moves still appears to be mostly nonsensical. With teams and leagues all along the east coast making preparations to relocate or definitively reschedule games, the Gators are content with waiting the situation and making, relatively few plans.
Florida isn’t the only major college football program in the state with minimal plans for adverse weather this weekend. Officials for the FSU-Miami game have no plans to relocate or reschedule the game, though projections estimate the worst of the storm will be over by the time the teams kick at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
Updates will be posted as needed.