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Florida football adjusts travel schedule to No. 14 Utah due to Tropical Storm Idalia

kevin brockway, gainesville sun
·2 min read

Due to the impending threat of Tropical Storm Idalia, Florida football has moved its travel schedule up one day for its season opener on Thursday at No. 14 Utah.

The Florida Gators will practice in Gainesville on Tuesday morning, then travel to Dallas, Texas. They will stay over in Dallas on Tuesday night, do a walk through in Dallas on Wednesday morning and then fly to Salt Lake City on Wednesday for Thursday's opener at Rice-Eccles Stadium (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).

"A lot of moving parts here, when you start talking about moving 100-plus people across the country," Florida football coach Billy Napier said. " ... . we anticipate arriving at the exact same time that we planned originally.

Idalia, which could strengthen to a Category 3 Hurricane when it reaches landfall in Florida on Wednesday. Its path is currently projected by the National Weather Service to pass through the west coast of Florida from Tampa through the Big Bend region.

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Florida was originally set to make the 2,000-mile plus flight from Gainesville to Salt Lake City on Wednesday morning, but the path of the storm would have made an on-time takeoff highly unlikely.

Florida is opening on the road for just the third time since 1987 and playing its first Thursday night game since 1992.

It poses as another challenge for a UF team looking to start the season on a positive note coming off back to back 6-7 seasons.

"This could end up being a positive," Napier said. "We break the flight up. We get the players and the staff into Dallas, get a good night's rest, a little extra focus, and then obviously get to spend some more time together. So, see that being positive."

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida Gators football adjusts travel schedule due to Tropical Storm Idalia