UCF and Cincinnati are scheduled to play an important Big 12 college football game Saturday in Orlando, Florida, but the impending arrival of Hurricane Milton could cause a change of plans.
Currently classified as a Category 4 storm in the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall near the Tampa and/or St. Petersburg areas of Florida by Wednesday night. Experts caution it could produce winds in excess of 120 miles per hour, huge storm surges and flying debris that still remains from the damage created by Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago.
The college football teams in Florida are bracing for the fallout that may wreak havoc on the area. The athletics calendar could also find itself beholden to the storm. UCF has already moved around several athletics events in anticipation of Hurricane Milton. The university issued a new scheduling advisory on Wednesday, including an update on the situation with the UCF football team.
Here’s the latest on whether UCF and Cincinnati will play their Week 7 college football game as scheduled with Hurricane Milton closing in on the Florida coastline:
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As of Tuesday afternoon, Saturday’s football game between UCF and Cincinnati is happening as planned.
UCF announced Tuesday that the teams are still scheduled to kickoff at 3:30 p.m. ET at FBC Mortgage Stadium in Orlando. The game is slated to be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
Other sports teams in Florida have already altered their arrangements in light of the storm’s expected path.
The NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning left to hold their practices elsewhere this week. The Bucs went early to New Orleans where they’re scheduled to play the Saints and the Lightning left for Raleigh, N.C. early ahead of their season opener against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.
USF’s scheduled home football game against Memphis was also moved from a Friday night kickoff to Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. ET, but USF coach Alex Golesh said that will be reevaluated Thursday after the storm makes landfall.
If Hurricane Milton makes landfall as a Category 3 storm, as meteorologists currently predict, it would mean winds as high as 129 mph. More than a dozen counties in Florida have issued mandatory evacuation orders ahead of Wednesday.
This story will be updated as more information is made available.
