SMU’s road game against UCF postponed to Wednesday due to Hurricane Ian

UNIVERSITY PARK — After two, close, emotional losses to Power Five teams, SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee gave a diagnostic check of his team.

“We’re beat up,” he said, referring to the nicks and bruises that come from back-to-back physical games. “But I expect a lot of those guys to be able to go, but we’re beat up. We’ve got to find a way this week to dig deep.”

Even though it wasn’t planned, the Mustangs will get a little more time to rest and lick their wounds.

For the second time, SMU’s road conference opener against UCF was rescheduled due to Hurricane Ian. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday, was re-scheduled for Sunday, and ultimately was rescheduled one more time to Wednesday, Oct. 5. Kickoff at UCF will be at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

Both SMU and UCF had some flexibility with their schedules due to byes the following weekend. After UCF, SMU’s next game will be at home against Navy on Friday, Oct. 14. UCF will host Temple on that Thursday.

Multiple other games scheduled to take place in Florida have been affected by Hurricane Ian.

The Category 4 Hurricane made landfall in Florida on Wednesday. It left Florida and headed north up toward the Atlantic coast on Thursday, leaving flooding and destruction in its wake across the state. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at least 700 rescues had taken place, according to The Associated Press. Four people have been confirmed dead from the hurricane.

The storm also knocked out power to 2.67 million Florida homes and businesses, which is approximately a quarter of the state’s utility customers, according to The Associated Press. Flooding was seen at the Universal Resort in Orlando and a Disney World hotel.

Classes at UCF have been canceled since Wednesday and will restart on Monday, according to the school.

“We’re thinking about all the people in the whole state of Florida … really hoping everyone in the whole state to UCF, everybody’s safe,” Lashlee said on Wednesday morning.

With reports of the storm’s potential strength prior to landfall, it wasn’t exactly a surprise that SMU’s game in Florida was postponed.

Earlier this week, after the game had been initially postponed until Sunday, Lashlee said he thought it was a good decision to give more time after Hurricane Ian hit the state.

“We’re excited we get to play the game, as I know they are, as of right now,” Lashlee said. “And we kind of know the schedule moving forward.”

Which is more certainty than teams have had some weeks the past few seasons.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the last two seasons were filled with daily uncertainty. Players would be out due to the virus or contact tracing days before the game. Sometimes the opponent would even change in an instant, if a game wasn’t canceled in its entirety.

“We were playing games with 50 scholarship players,” SMU offensive coordinator Casey Woods recalled this week.

When asked if the experience of coaching through the pandemic made reacting to changes like this week easier, Woods agreed.

“You’ve got to be able to adapt,” Woods said of lessons learned from the last two seasons, “and adjust and be light on your feet.”

Now SMU will have to adjust to a different game time than they planned, but after being beat up the last two weeks, a little more time isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

On Twitter: @JoeJHoyt

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