Rick Scott

Florida-LSU Football Game Saturday Postponed Due to Hurricane Matthew

As Hurricane Matthew pushes north with the Central Florida area square in its sights, the Florida Gators won't be taking the football field this weekend as scheduled.

The Southeastern Conference announced that the game Saturday between UF and the LSU Tigers will be postponed. The teams will attempt to reschedule the game for a later date, however they do not share the same bye week later in the month. Florida is off the 22nd, LSU the 29th.

The decision came after U.S. Sen. David Vitter, a Republican from Louisiana, wrote a letter to Florida Gov. Rick Scott urging him to force UF to either relocate or postpone the game.

Vitter said that playing the game in Gainesville on 12 p.m. Saturday, less than 100 miles from the coast that Matthew is forecasted to rake along on Friday, was too dangerous.

Georgia and South Carolina are also bracing for Matthew to hit them Friday and Saturday, and the two states' schools moved their matchup back to Sunday from Saturday, South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp said on radio, according to NBC affiliate WXIA.

Two other schools in Florida have moved their games scheduled for this weekend. The University of Central Florida postponed their game scheduled for Friday night against Tulane, moving it to November 5. Florida Atlantic University moved their game Saturday at home against Charlotte to Sunday at 12 p.m.

The marquee game of the weekend in Florida, between the rival Miami Hurricanes and Florida State Seminoles, is still scheduled to kick off Saturday night at 8 p.m. inside Hard Rock Stadium. Officials from both schools say they will monitor the storm further before a decision on a possible date or location change if one is needed.

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