To follow news of Hurricane Sandy, here is the news page on Yahoo! which will track all the developments. We're keeping our friends and readers on the East Coast in our thoughts and hoping for the best.
The storm and its potential damage makes college football very insignificant in comparison. But this is a college football blog, so we'll try to keep you updated on the ways the storm might affect the sport we cover.
Rutgers deflated its practice bubble, which it says is the nation's largest air-supported indoor structure, and coach Kyle Flood canceled all team activities on Monday and plans to cancel practice Tuesday, according to MyCentralJersey.com, a Gannett news source. Rutgers has off this week, and hosts Army on Nov. 10:
"We're stuck in the middle of a hurricane where the university is actually shutdown Monday and Tuesday. There's a state of emergency so we've got a couple different challenges," Flood said, according to MyCentralJersey.com. "We've canceled all of our activities for the day to keep everybody safe. We thought that was the best thing to do. It's really not safe for the players to be traveling. But we're hoping to get back on track sometime tomorrow afternoon if the weather permits. We'll go from there and start preparing for an Army team that presents unique challenges every year."
UConn plays at South Florida this week, but preparation will be affected by the storm. The campus is closed on Monday, so there will be no practice for the football team. Coach Paul Pasqualoni hoped the team would be able to practice Tuesday, according to SNY.tv:
"We can't practice," Pasqualoni said. "The facility is actually closed, no meetings and no film. Right now the wind is starting to blow pretty good. We are expecting for it to hit in a few hours severely. We got to hang in there and hope this thing comes through and lets up. We are hopeful by Tuesday afternoon we can get things going again."
The University of Maryland is also closed on Monday. The Terrapins host a game this week, against Georgia Tech on Saturday. Also in Maryland, Navy hosts a game this Saturday, against Florida Atlantic. The Capital Gazette reported Navy practiced Monday morning.
West Virginia is scheduled to host TCU this week, and is getting blizzard conditions as a result of Hurricane Sandy. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that TCU wants to fly into Clarksburg, W. Va., on Friday afternoon and bus 40 miles to Morgantown, but weather could cause the team to fly into Pittsburgh, which is an hour away. West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said on the Big 12 weekly teleconference that the hurricane should clear the area by Friday, but it could affect his team's preparations. TCU coach Gary Patterson told the Star-Telegram he would prefer to reschedule the game on Dec. 8 if weather will cause safety issues:
"I'd rather play the game at the end of the season so kids aren't missing school," Patterson said. "I also don't want to put 200 lives at risk."
Boston College, which canceled classes and closed administrative offices on Monday, plays at Wake Forest on Saturday. Temple has closed its campus on Monday and Tuesday. The Owls play at Louisville on Saturday.
The storm is supposed to hit West Point Monday afternoon -- the visitor's center at the U.S. Military Academy is closing at noon Monday and tours of the academy are canceled for Monday and Tuesday as preparation -- and Army is scheduled to host Air Force on Saturday.
We'll see how the storm affects these teams and others through the week, but most importantly we hope everyone on the East Coast stays safe.
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