Florida State AD announces Saturday's game against Wake Forest will go on as scheduled
The matchup between Florida State and Wake Forest in Tallahassee — scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday — remains one of the only football games in the state this weekend to not be postponed or relocated due to Hurricane Ian.
On Thursday, FSU athletic director Michael Alford reaffirmed that the game will go on at the scheduled time. He released a statement outlining as much and noting that the decision was reached in concert with the ACC and the Wake Forest administration.
“Our thoughts and prayers at this time are with all those impacted by Hurricane Ian. We have conducted another operation briefing today and have been in regular communication with the Atlantic Coast Conference and Wake Forest’s administration. As of now, there is no change in plans to host Saturday’s football game with the existing 3:30 p.m. kickoff time,” Alford said in the statement.
On top of the game going on, FSU is using it as a chance to give something back to Floridians who have been displaced by the storm.
“We are making tickets available to Saturday’s football game to Floridians displaced by Hurricane Ian. Floridians can claim up to four tickets courtesy of Florida State Athletics by showing their state of Florida ID at the Dick Howser Ticket Office (baseball stadium) on Saturday beginning at 11:30 a.m,” Alford said to conclude the statement.
Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson urged the ACC to make ‘the right decision’
Speaking on Tuesday ahead of the storm, Clawson didn’t explicitly argue for the game to be cancelled, only saying that he hopes the league and Florida State make “the right decision.” And Clawson’s own desires to play won’t be outweighed by his responsibility to put the health and safety of his players and staff first.
“It’s one of those deals that you certainly hope the ACC office makes the right decision,” Clawson said. “So it’s — if they don’t, we will. We’re not going to travel down there and put anybody at risk. We’re monitoring the weather. Obviously this is in the league’s hands and Florida State’s hands. We would hope that they make the right decision. But if we feel there’s any danger to our players going down there, we’re not going to go.”
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It’s pretty jarring to hear a coach openly discussing likely forfeiting a league game — that’s what would be at stake here, even if Clawson didn’t say it out right — if only because they never do, but it’s clear that the Wake Forest coach has bigger concerns about traveling south right after the storm.
For one, the Wake Forest team will be chartering a flight to Tallahassee, which isn’t a guaranteed smooth ride in the wake of a hurricane. Furthermore, when they’re in Florida, Clawson knows there’s still a bevy of other things that need attending to for a football team to function. The hotel obviously needs to still have electricity, and then there’s the challenge of feeding an entire college football team and staff.
Furthermore, there’s a question about the morals and ethics of expending these resources by bringing in a 100-plus person traveling party.
This has all, clearly, weighed on Clawson, who really doesn’t have a ton of say in the matter at the moment.
“It’s really, right now, Florida State and the ACC. And then ultimately, we do have some say in this. So at any point Florida State could say ‘No, we’re not playing.’ Or the ACC could say it, and then our say doesn’t matter,” Clawson said. “But if they say that they feel they can host the game and it’s safe and the ACC feels that way, then it’s our hands whether we feel traveling is safe.
“We wanna play, we absolutely wanna play, but only if it is safe and appropriate.”