With the powerful and destructive Hurricane Irma on a path that has it affecting basically the entire state of Florida, it is having a big impact on the sports world. Teams are changing or even outright canceling games as the storm will affect the early season scheduling for both the NFL and college football.

Impact on the NFL

The NFL today announced its plans for the week one game between the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers that was set to take place in Miami. A league source told ESPN's Jeff Darlington of the change, which will see both teams play each other during Week 11 during what was their scheduled bye week.

This means that week one will act as a bye week for both teams and then they will have to play 16 straight weeks of football. For the Dolphins this will be especially brutal, as week four sees them going overseas to London to play the New Orleans Saints.

Now the Dolphins will open the season on the road against the Chargers and Jets. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay will host the Bears on September 17th before returning home. The Jacksonville Jaguars, the third team in Florida, should not be affected by the hurricane since they open the year playing at Houston.

Impact on College Football

No.16 Miami announced today that they have canceled their game against Arkansas State.

Despite that fact that the game is being played at Arkansas State, school officials decided to cancel it due to uncertainty over getting back home following the game and what will happen with the storm. The game will not be able to be made up this year.

No. 21 USF also plays a road game this weekend, taking on rival UConn, but like Miami, is concerned about how travel will be affected by the hurricane.

Officials from both schools are working together on the issue, which could include an earlier start time or just outright cancelling the game without being able to replay it. FAU, which plays at No.9 Wisconsin, has not indicated yet if they are concerned with travel like Miami and USF were and if the start time of the game will be affected.

FIU announced that it will not play its home game against Alcorn State in Miami and the two sides are looking into a neutral location to play this Friday. No. 10 Florida State and No.22 Florida, who both play home games against Louisiana-Monore and Northern Colorado, are both monitoring Hurricane Irma and have decided to move their games up to a noon kickoff on Saturday.

Both games were originally supposed to start at 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. respectively. Meanwhile,UCF announced that it would be moving its home game against Memphis from 8 p.m. on Saturday up to 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
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