It's still possible, but just not at the originally scheduled 7:30 p.m. kickoff. Florida's athletic department sent out a release on Tuesday saying it has officials closely monitoring the storm but did not have an official update on if the game will be played, rescheduled or canceled.
While the decision is ultimately up to the University of Florida, City of Gainesville and Alachua County officials, meteorologist Al Sandrik with the National Weather Service said the Gainesville area could start experiencing tropical storm-force winds as early as Saturday evening. Should Florida play the game — Athletics Director Scott Stricklin said Tuesday he would be meeting communicating plans to the public on Wednesday — the likely options are to move the game up to noon Saturday or to play at some point Friday.
Irma has grown into a Category 5 storm with sustained winds maxing at about 185 mph, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center on Wednesday morning . According to the National Hurricane Center based in Miami, Irma is the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic basin outside of the Caribbean Sea & Gulf of Mexico.
Based on the projected path , which could vary over the next couple days, the storm is expected make landfall in Florida Sunday night.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has already declared a State of Emergency for all 67 Florida counties and said at a news conference on Tuesday that Irma "has the potential to devastate this state. You have to take this seriously." Scott also ordered all 7,000 members of the state's National Guard to report to duty on Friday.
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