While there are more important things going on in the Rockies than a football game, the weather calamity in Colorado has put one contest scheduled for this weekend in doubt.
If you haven’t heard, a storm system that’s dropped record rain on the state of Colorado in general and the Boulder-area specifically the past couple of days has left in its wake a devastating flood. At least three people have died as a result of flash flooding, and the National Guard has been called to help evacuate a town just outside of Boulder due to flood waters raging in from a nearby canyon.
Colorado and Fresno State are scheduled to kickoff at 2 p.m. ET Saturday in non-conference action. As of early Friday afternoon, CU officials are still trying to determine whether the game will go off as planned.
“We are continuing to monitor the situation and will have more info soon about Saturday’s football game with Fresno St.,” the university’s athletic department wrote on its Twitter feed.
In a press release earlier today, Fresno State stated that the school “is monitoring the situation and working closely with University of Colorado officials at this time regarding Saturday’s football game.” The Bulldogs are scheduled to fly into Boulder Friday afternoon.
If the game is indeed postponed, it may ultimately be canceled entirely.
The Buffaloes have open dates on Sept. 21 and Oct. 19. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, are off Oct. 12 and Nov. 16. Colorado’s last game of the regular season is Nov. 30 while Fresno State’s is a day before, so there could be an opportunity to make up the game the following weekend. There’s a better than average chance, however, that the Bulldogs could be playing in the Mountain West Championship Game Dec. 7; we’re guessing a Pac-12 title game that same weekend would not be an issue for the Buffs.
UPDATED 3:17 p.m. ET: Colorado announced via a press release Friday afternoon that the Fresno State CU game has indeed been postponed. Officals from both schools will discuss a potential makeup date, the release stated.
“Even though the weather is improving, Boulder is still designated as a national emergency site,” CU-Boulder chancellor Philip P. DiStefano said in his statement. “Our community is hurting. Many of our students are displaced from their homes, including many of our student-athletes. This is not an appropriate time for us to hold a game that would put pressure on the community, both in terms of security/emergency personnel, but also in diverting attention from people in need.”
“Our players have a strong desire to compete, but many of them and many of their friends have personally been affected and I know they support this decision to postpone as well,” head coach Mike MacIntyre said. “This is the appropriate decision and we are all 100 percent in agreement.”