Tropical Storm Isaias has thrown a little uncertainty into one of college football’s biggest games of the weekend, but the early word out of Tuscaloosa is that No. 2 Georgia and No. 6 Alabama still expect to meet on Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported that both teams plan to play as scheduled, even with the storm expected to bring heavy rain, possible flooding and strong winds across the Southeast. A kickoff-time change remains possible, but the game is not currently expected to be moved to another day or site.
That lines up with the message coming from the SEC and Alabama earlier in the week. An SEC spokesperson told CBS Sports that the league is “keeping an eye on forecasts and staying in communication with schools with games that could be impacted by weather.” Alabama, meanwhile, said Tuesday that there are currently “no plans to alter the contest.”
The weather picture in Tuscaloosa is not pretty. The current forecast calls for a temperature of 69 degrees, a 90 percent chance of rain, 1.19 inches of precipitation, and winds around 20 mph with gusts up to 38 mph. Visibility is projected at 5 miles.
At least for now, though, the expectation is that the game can still be played through the mess.
Both coaches addressed the situation during their SEC teleconference, and neither sounded interested in making too much of it. Georgia coach Kirby Smart said the biggest challenge is the simple fact that weather like this is hard to recreate in practice.
“It’s uncertainty. [It’s] beyond my control,” Smart said, per 247Sports.
“We as coaches game plan for multiple situations - weather conditions - when they’re there. We had that same prep last week with the threat of those things.
Doesn’t change a lot about practice. You have to practice good on good.
You’ve got to practice for the long term of the season, not just for one week.
“You can’t really practice conditions. You can’t simulate them, so you’re much better off to educate, learn from the past of other people who have played in them, and prepare your team to play and not make it about that.”
Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer took a similar approach. He said the Crimson Tide are preparing as they normally would, with wet-ball work added for the second straight week after last week’s rainy buildup to the win over Mississippi State.
“Depends on the level of weather you get, it would affect what happens,” DeBoer said, according to 247Sports. “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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