With hurricane approaching, Charleston Southern confident game vs. USC will be played

Charleston Southern is bracing for the impact for Hurricane Dorian by canceling most of its sporting events this week.

But the Saturday game against South Carolina in Columbia is still on the schedule.

The school canceled classes and ordered students who live on campus to evacuate. CSU also canceled four athletic events and tentatively has a women’s soccer game at Mercer on the docket.

“Due to the elevated threat of Hurricane Dorian, classes, home athletic events, campus activities and campus visits at Charleston Southern University are canceled beginning Monday until further notice,” the school said in a statement.

A number of CSU games were canceled, but Saturday’s football game at the Gamecocks “will proceed as planned,” the school said.

The Charleston Southern football team will stay in Charlotte this week, the school confirmed to The State. The Buccaneers’ practice site and schedule were not set as of Monday afternoon. Charleston Southern receives a $400,000 payout for the game.

The following CSU athletic events were postponed or canceled:

▪ Sept. 3 — Volleyball vs. S.C. State (postponed)

▪ Sept. 5 — Soccer vs. College of Charleston (postponed)

▪ Sept. 6-7 — Volleyball at FIU Tournament (canceled)

▪ Sept. 7 — Cross country vs. Buccaneer Open (canceled)

The following athletic events are still to be determined:

▪ Sept. 8 — Women’s soccer at Mercer

The following athletic events will proceed as planned:

▪ Sept. 7 v Football at South Carolina, Noon

Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp was asked Sunday night about potential planning, but had not yet spoken to athletic director Ray Tanner about contingency plans.

“The important thing is securing our coast and the people on the coast,” Muschamp said. “Whatever happens, happens. There’s nothing we can really control as far as those situations. Those decisions are in great hands.”

South Carolina has had three games affected by hurricanes since 2015. Last season, an early game with Marshall was canceled and replaced with a game against Akron the week after USC-Clemson. In 2016 the Georgia game was played on a Sunday. In 2015, a home game with LSU was moved to Louisiana, although that was not directly related to a hurricane but instead because of flooding after storms linked to Hurricane Joaquin.

Hurricane Dorian, with 165 mph winds as of Monday, is not forecast to make landfall but is projected to skirt the coast of South Carolina on Wednesday and Thursday with high winds and rain.

The Columbia weather forecast for gameday is sunny with a high near 93.

This story was originally published September 2, 2019 at 9:52 AM.