Alabama vs. Georgia live hurricane watch: Latest news on Tropical Storm Isaias threatening SEC showdown originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
As if the colossal matchup between No. 2 Georgia and No. 6 Alabama didn’t need any more hype, Mother Nature is threatening to wreak havoc on the game itself.
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Tropical Storm Isaias is brewing off the coast of eastern Mexico, and is forecast to become a hurricane and start bearing down on the gulf coast of Alabama by Friday morning. Saturday night’s game is scheduled to kickoff at 7:30 p.m. ET.
ESPN’s “College GameDay” is also expected to be in Tuscaloosa ahead of the game, and President J. Donald Trump is also expected to attend Saturday night’s game.
While there are no scheduled changes to Saturday night’s game between the Dawgs and Tide as of yet, the storm’s path could threaten to change that.
Here’s the latest info on Tropical Storm Isaias, and how it might impact Saturday night’s game in Tuscaloosa, as well as other events in the southeast.
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Alabama vs. Georgia hurricane updates
Wednesday, Oct. 7
Alabama issued an updated statement on Wednesday evening, adding that the school is closely monitoring the situation, but kickoff is still set for 7:30 p.m. ET:
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer is not too concerned about the impacts, for now:
“Depends on the level of weather you get, it would affect what happens,” DeBeor said this week via Bama247. “It’s just — that’s not my area of expertise. I’m just getting our football team ready. It hasn’t affected us much, other than we’re doing wet ball drills and get wet ball involved in some of our team reps, just like we did last week at times, preparing for the rain a week ago. I’m not really involved in too much.”
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Tuesday, Oct. 6
Alabama’s athletic department issued a statement Tuesday evening that it will monitor the situation as the week progresses, and that there are no scheduled changes at this time:
Other games impacted by Hurricane Isaias
For now, the primary focus is on the game in Tuscaloosa, which is coincidentally the only other game within the state of Alabama this week.
Louisiana and Louisiana Tech are slated to play in Ruston, La. Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Games in surrounding states, such as Tennessee, could also potentially see impacts. No. 9 Ole Miss plays at Vanderbilt in Nashville at 3:30 p.m. UAB plays at Memphis Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET.
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In Georgia, Duke takes on Georgia Tech in Atlanta a 3:30 p.m., and undefeated James Madison will take on Georgia Southern in Statesboro at 7:30 p.m. ET. Although there could be a few other games affected, the storm’s size and potential areas of impact are not clearly known as of yet.
What category is Hurricane Isaias?
Isaias is still currently a tropical depression, but it is forecast to become a tropical storm and possibly a Hurricane over the next couple of days. By Friday evening when it is still off the coast of the Florida panhandle and Alabama, it is forecasted to be a Category 2 Hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour.
By the time it is inland over the state of Alabama on Saturday morning, it is projected to be downgraded back to a tropical storm with winds of 50 miles per hour. After it passes through the state, it will be further downgraded to a tropical depression by Saturday evening.
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Hurricane Isaias path map
Here’s a look at the current track, via the National Hurricane Center. It projects the storm to make landfall along the Florida panhandle before moving north into Alabama:
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