College Football Weather Report: Games Impacted By Hurricane Helene

Hurricane Helene bears down on the southern U.S. with landfall expected Thursday evening. The forecast Category 4 storm will wreak havoc on the panhandle of Florida, including Tallahassee, and continue up Georgia and into the southern Appalachian Mountains. Strong winds and catastrophic rain will impact inland areas, including where many college football games are played this weekend. Let’s dive into a very impactful Week 5 college football weather report.

Keep in mind the size of Hurricane Helene when looking at the future path of the storm. With a forecast wind field at over 400 miles across, Helene is one of the largest tropical systems to ever hit the U.S. out of the Gulf of Mexico. For reference, that’s roughly equal to the distance between Dallas and Memphis, San Francisco to Los Angeles, and New York City to Cleveland.

For the latest on Hurricane Helene, check out NOAA’s forecast.

College Football Weather Report: Hurricane Helene Impacts Week 5

Click on the odds in the tables to bet now. All kick times are listed in ET.

Wagner at FAU, Saturday (6:00 p.m., ESPN+)

A benefit of living in one of the mildest and sunniest places in the continental U.S. is being able to play on a natural grass surface. FAU Stadium features natural grass – a surface that could be rampaged by Hurricane Helene. Though rainfall totals aren’t expected to be as severe as other locations, multiple days and a couple inches of rain could turn the field into a mud pit.

Forecasts call for rain and sustained winds near 15 mph on Saturday. Higher gusts are expected. The over/under opened at 48.5 points early this week. Before laying a bet on either side or the total, get a look at the playing conditions first. As seen in last year’s Cure Bowl north of Orlando, a messy playing surface can derail an entire football game.

• Factors: Wind, soaking rain
• Impacts: Poor playing conditions, specifically field surface
• Action: Avoid betting this game

UT-Martin at Kennesaw State, Saturday (6:00 p.m., ESPN+)

Impacts from Hurricane Helene will be, of course, most severe at landfall in the panhandle of Florida. But forecasts call for Helene to dump nearly a foot of rain across the entire state of Georgia and western North and South Carolina. Gov. Brian Kemp declared a State of Emergency for Georgia ahead of the storm’s landfall. Kennesaw, which sits just northwest of Atlanta, could see 4-8″ of rain over the 48 hours prior to kickoff.

Fifth Third Bank, home of the Owls and this game Saturday, has a natural grass surface. That surface, if not properly protected, could be flooded and turned ugly prior to kickoff. Rain is expected to subside in Kennesaw for Saturday, but the damage is likely already done by then. Also, sustained winds in excess of 15 mph are forecast throughout the first half. Fortunately, forecasts call for those to subside as the evening progresses.

• Factors: Wind, poor playing surface
• Impacts: Poor playing conditions, specifically field surface
• Action: Avoid betting this game

Stanford at Clemson, Saturday (7:00 p.m., ESPN)

Like the two previous games, Clemson Memorial Stadium is a grass playing field expected to see 5+ inches of rain the 48 hours before kickoff. Western South Carolina and northeast Georgia are among the areas forecast to see the most rain throughout this event. Rain chances increase throughout the evening in Clemson. With just a few-hour window to dry out, this game could be a sloppy one.

Stanford and Clemson are two offenses playing well currently. But a sloppy surface benefits nobody and could slow all units down. Check in with local surface conditions before wagering on this game. Should the surface look fine – after all, Clemson spends as much as anybody nationally on facilities and care – then perhaps the impacts are overstated. But natural grass surfaces are much more susceptible to rain events like Helene than artificial surfaces.

• Factors: Poor playing surface
• Impacts: Poor playing conditions, specifically field surface
• Action: Avoid betting this game

What About Georgia At Alabama?

Under 49.5 points took some action Thursday on the weekend’s biggest game. With Tuscaloosa situated west of landfall, it’s spared the worst of the impacts. In fact, Tuscaloosa isn’t expected to see hardly any impacts from this system. Therefore, forecasts call for minimal to no impacts on Georgia at Alabama.

College Football Weather: Games Impacted by WIND

Sustained winds near 15 mph begin to affect scoring. Forecasts suggest these games will see sustained winds near 15 mph:

• Minnesota at Michigan (12:00 p.m., FOX)
• Oklahoma at Auburn (3:30 p.m., ABC)
• Louisville at Notre Dame (3:30 p.m., Peacock)
• TCU at Kansas (3:30 p.m., ESPN+, from Kansas City)
• Georgia Southern at Georgia State (3:30 p.m., ESPNU)
• Middle Tennessee at Memphis (7:30 p.m., ESPNU)

College Football Weather: Games Impacted by RAIN

Be it prior field conditions or soaking rain during the game, several games are under the gun for wet games this weekend:

• Western Michigan at Marshall (3:30 p.m., ESPN+)
• UMass at Miami-OH (3:30 p.m., ESPN+)
• Illinois at Penn State (7:30 p.m., NBC)

Nearby Games Not Forecast To Be Impacted By Hurricane Helene

Despite kicking off Friday night, Rutgers at Miami likely won’t see many weather impacts during the game. Heavy winds are expected to die down in the evening and rain subsides throughout the day. Do pay attention to the condition of the field pregame, though. Should Miami not cover its field with a tarp, the surface could be in poor shape due to a couple inches of rain Thursday and Friday.

Other games in the southeast not expected to see much action from the storm (especially Saturday) includes:

• Navy at UAB
• Northern Illinois at NC State
• USF at Tulane
• Ball State at James Madison
• North Carolina at Duke
• ULM at Troy

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