With heavy rain that’s predicted, some college football games are going to get messy

Published 12:16 pm Friday, October 2, 2015

On paper, this weekend’s college football slate is probably the best of the season so far, with five games featuring two top 25 teams. Some of those contests are going to get messy, however, because of the heavy rain that’s predicted to fall in Georgia and the Carolinas.

The National Weather Service says, “All the ingredients are in place for a rainfall even of historic proportions across the area.” NOAA is calling it a “1 in 1,000 year event.”

Of the big games on the docket, Alabama’s game at Georgia and Notre Dame’s game at Clemson are almost certainly going to be played in what is likely to be some fairly substantial rain.

National Weather Center meteorologist Ryan Willis told Michael Casagrande of AL.com that the heaviest stuff will be coming down right when the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs kick off at 3:30 p.m. EDT, with two to three inches possible. “It could get pretty messy,” he said.

It’s almost certainly going to be worse at Clemson, which plays on a natural-grass field (Georgia has artificial turf). The rain will start Friday night and more or less won’t stop until maybe Monday afternoon, with three to five inches expected during the day Saturday and another one to two inches on Saturday night. The Tigers and Fighting Irish kick things off at 8 p.m. EDT.

Oh, and the winds will be blowing at 15 to 25 mph, too.

As of Thursday night, Clemson officials said they had no plans to postpone the game, and ESPN’s “College Gameday” will be broadcasting from the school’s campus as planned.

Here are some other games that could get messy:

Maryland vs. Michigan, noon

Virginia Tech vs. Pittsburgh, noon

N.C. State vs. Louisville, 12:30

Duke vs. Boston College, 3:30

Wake Forest vs. No. 11 Florida State, 3:30

Georgia Tech vs. North Carolina, 3:30

Navy vs. Air Force, 3:30

Tennessee vs. Arkansas, 7 p.m.