Hurricane Florence Could Play Spoiler This Weekend

As the Mountaineers begin preparation for North Carolina State, they’ll also begin to prepare for what could literally be a monsoon of a game. Both school administrations are remaining in contact with each other throughout this week, keeping a close eye on Hurricane Florence.

As of this writing, Hurricane Florence is expected to make landfall as a Class 4 hurricane early Saturday morning.

Here is the official statement from Raleigh.

Statement from NC State regarding this weeks #WVU game pic.twitter.com/zjvuGAbFif

— Schuyler Callihan (@DVNCallihan) September 9, 2018

There are several options on the table for West Virginia’s Week 3 Hurricane Game.

1. Keep the game in Raleigh for Saturday

This is probably going to be a bit of a stretch at this point, considering the projected weather conditions. There’s no way you can play a football game with close to 100 mph winds and a torrential downpour. Player safety is key and I don’t think either side wants to lose a player to injury forcing a non conference game to be played. The only way this happens is if the storm takes an unexpected turn away from the mid-atlantic coast — which, to be fair, hurricanes sometimes do.

DubV Nation Says: 5% chance of happening

2. Keep the game in Raleigh; move the game time

If the NC State administration is adamant about playing this one at home, they will likely have to move it off of Saturday. Friday might work, but it would be awfully close to when the storm is suppose to make landfall, plus travel conditions may not be the safest. With the uncertainty of the amount of damage this storm will do, Sunday isn’t an option. That leaves one possible option: Thursday.

Rescheduling the game for Thursday is, in my opinion, NC State’s only option if the administration wants to keep the game in Raleigh. Even still, a last-minute move would be a huge disadvantage for both coaching staffs,  as they would need to get their teams prepared with 72 hours of notice, instead of having a full week of preparations.

DubV Nation Says: 10% chance of happening

3. Move the game to Charlotte

As a North Carolina resident myself, I’m hearing this could be a viable option, even though neither side is thrilled with the idea. West Virginia would have to travel either way, so it wouldn’t bother the Mountaineers as much, but NC State really doesn’t want to move this thing out of Raleigh.

Charlotte will definitely feel the effects of the hurricane, but with it being so far inland, there’s a good chance that the game could still be played without much concern. Then again, the schools will have to contact the Carolina Panthers, check it with their schedule and get the thumbs up from them.

DubV Nation Says: 5% chance of happening

4. Move the game to Morgantown

North Carolina State is notorious for playing home and homes and hosting first, so the Wolf Pack administration would not necessarily be fond of this idea, but they may not have a better option. West Virginia is slated to host NC State next year, so in the event that it gets moved to Morgantown this week, the teams would essentially swap hosting years. Other than the logistical nightmare that this could cause for the fan bases travel plans and ticket situations, it makes sense.

This wouldn’t be the first time this has happened. Various teams have done it before within conference play, so it’s certainly not unpredecented.

DubV Nation Says: 30% chance of happening

5. Game is canceled

OK you guys, my intention is not to scare anyone with this message.

But Hurricane #Florence—the storm bound for North Carolina—is going to be about the size of North Carolina when it arrives.

This is what it will look like, according to the latest high-res model prediction: pic.twitter.com/B8vCm3FDi6

— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) September 10, 2018

The tweet above is the current path for the storm, and as you can see, this joker is huge. If the teams can’t come to an agreement on what to do with the game, the only other option is to cancel. This would certainly hurt both teams — particularly West Virginia,  which will try to crash the Heisman/Playoff Picture and needs all of its scheduled “data points” to take place. If the Mountaineers only get 11 games in and finish 10-1, the absence of a second marquee non-conference win could certainly hurt their chances.

DubV Nation Says: 50% chance of happening