Two games canceled as hurricane nears Carolina, Virginia coasts

Two major nonconference football games scheduled in the state of North Carolina have been called off this weekend.

No. 14 West Virginia's visit to North Carolina State, along with No. 18 Central Florida's game at North Carolina, were nixed from Saturday's schedule because of concerns about the forecast path of Hurricane Florence, which was elevated to a Category 4 storm on Tuesday.

School officials announced early Tuesday afternoon that the games are off.

Based on releases from the schools, it sounds like the possibility of a makeup date for West Virginia-NC State is more likely. It's also possible that the teams could find other opponents with similar open dates to fill out the schedules.

NC State's next game is Sept. 22 at Marshall. North Carolina opens Atlantic Coast Conference play on that same day at home against Pittsburgh.

Central Florida and North Carolina have never met in football, but the teams also have meetings scheduled in 2020, 2024 and 2025.

Meanwhile, the ACC game Thursday night between visiting Boston College and Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C., has been moved up two hours to a 5:30 p.m. ET kickoff.

Hurricane models project landfall by Thursday, but some expect the storm to hit North Carolina and others project a dramatic rotation north, bringing heavy rain to the Carolinas and high winds and potential for a disastrous flood incident to Virginia and West Virginia.

National Hurricane Center director Ken Graham said in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday that Florence is "staggering" in size and reminded residents that with potential for more than 20 inches of rain over a three- to five-day period, this will not be only a "coastal event."

South Carolina and Clemson still have home games scheduled Saturday.

East Carolina University, meanwhile, canceled classes for the rest of the week. The Pirates are scheduled to visit Virginia Tech on Saturday.

"It's important to get the notion across to the team that they can't worry or assume anything," Hokies coach Justin Fuente said. "We just don't know what's going to happen, and we have no control over that. We have to worry about the things we can control."

--Field Level Media