AAC makes adjustments to play USF-UConn, UCF-Memphis also rescheduled (Update)
UPDATE 5:45 p.m. ET
Memphis and Central Florida will play each other on Sept. 30.
The AAC announced Thursday that the Week 2 game canceled because of Hurricane Irma would be made up at the end of the month.
Memphis was slated to play at Georgia State that weekend while UCF was scheduled to play Maine. Georgia State said it would be receiving $1.1 million in cancellation fees from Memphis for the AAC’s shuffle.
UCF canceling its game with Main means the Knights still have only 10 games on its 12-game slate. Saturday’s contest vs. Georgia Tech was canceled earlier in the week and no makeup date has been announced (or become available).
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Hurricane Irma caused more chaos for the American Athletic Conference than any other league.
Two conference games — USF vs. UConn and UCF vs. Memphis — were cancelled and UCF’s home game against Georgia Tech was also called off. On Thursday, the league announced that it was able to get one of those games, USF’s trip to Connecticut, back on the schedule.
It took a lot of maneuvering involving five different AAC teams. Here are all of the changes, including USF’s buyout of its game against UMass.
UConn
UConn will host ECU Sunday, Sept. 24 (replacing an open date) and will host USF Saturday, Nov. 4 (replacing the original date of the ECU game). The game will be played on a Sunday due to the unavailability of Pratt & Whitney Stadium on Saturday (NYCFC vs. Houston Dynamo MLS game).
USF
USF will host Cincinnati Saturday, Oct. 14 (replacing a previously scheduled game against Massachusetts), will host Houston Saturday, Oct. 28 (replacing the original game against Cincinnati), and will play at UConn Saturday, Nov. 4 (replacing the original game against Houston).
Cincinnati
Cincinnati will play at USF Saturday, Oct. 14 and will have its open date Oct. 28 (replacing an Oct. 14 open date and the game at USF Oct. 28).
ECU
ECU will visit UConn Sunday, Sept. 24 (replacing an open date), will have an open date Saturday, Oct. 28 (replacing a game against Houston), and will play at Houston Saturday, Nov. 4 (replacing the previously scheduled game against UConn).
Houston
Houston will play at USF Saturday, Oct. 28 (instead of Nov. 4) and will host ECU Saturday, Nov. 4 (instead of Oct. 28).
“I would like to thank our presidents, athletic directors and our head football coaches for their outstanding collaboration and cooperation to resolve this unprecedented situation in as fair a manner as possible,” said American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco.
“I would also like to acknowledge and thank Ryan Bamford of UMass for his cooperation and understanding. This was not an easy process, but we feel that this revised schedule is a significant step toward giving us the best opportunity to decide our champion on the field.”
The conference also said it is continuing its efforts to reschedule the Memphis-UCF game. Like UMass did for USF, a few buyouts could be coming, per USA Today’s Dan Wolken.
Source: Memphis and UCF are trying to work out a deal to buy out of games against Georgia State and Maine, respectively, to play on Sept. 30
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) September 14, 2017
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
