The Associated Press is going to delay the release of its Top 25 rankings for Week 7 until Monday because of the continued impact of Hurricane Matthew.
David Wharton of the Los Angeles Times passed along news of the change Friday. The poll, which is typically released Sunday, could be impacted by a game between Georgia and South Carolina that was moved to Sunday due to the storm.
Ryan Phillips and Ada Carr of the Weather Channel reported Saturday that Hurricane Matthew is responsible for at least five deaths in Florida. It also caused widespread damage and flooding while leaving more than one million people without power.
Those conditions are why the SEC opted to postpone Saturday’s expected clash between Florida and LSU.
Conference commissioner Greg Sankey stated there were too many potentially dangerous variables to allow the game to move forward, according to the Gators’ official website:
We had a very productive phone call today with a great spirit of cooperation between the universities’ presidents and athletics directors and it became clear that the University of Florida could neither host nor travel to a game this weekend considering the circumstances. The developments of the hurricane in the last 24 hours, the projected magnitude of its impact and the unknown aftermath of this storm have resulted in this decision to seek another date to play the LSU-Florida game. We have to be sensitive to the possible imminent disruption to the state of Florida and in particular the Gainesville and surrounding area.
Making matters worse, Judson Jones of CNN noted Hurricane Matthew is expected to take a right turn after traveling up the eastern seaboard and could ultimately swing back around to strike Florida for a second time, though the exact track remains unclear.
Georgia and South Carolina are still hopeful the weather system, which is impacting South Carolina on Saturday, will move through in time to play Sunday. Jake Rowe of 247Sports reported kickoff was moved from 7:30 p.m. Saturday to 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
The Bulldogs received 42 voting points in last week’s AP poll, putting them 31st in the rankings. The possibility of them moving into the Top 25 with a victory is why the Associated Press has decided to wait an extra day to release its next set of standings.
Source: Extra Juice