CLEMSON — Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on Thursday, and it has altered Stanford‘s travel plans ahead of its game against Clemson football.
Stanford was set to depart from San Jose Mineta International Airport in California around 4:15 p.m. ET on Thursday and arrive at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport around 9 p.m. However, their flight was canceled after multiple delays. According to a university spokesperson, Stanford’s charter flight was not cleared to land prior to curfew due to inclement weather.
The spokesperson added Stanford’s flight was rescheduled for Friday morning and will depart from San Francisco International Airport. According to flight records, it will leave around 1:15 p.m. ET and arrive around 5:48 p.m., which is a little over 24 hours before kickoff against No. 15 Clemson (2-1, 1-0) on Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN) at Memorial Stadium.
Stanford (2-1, 1-0) was among three teams to join the ACC this season. With the majority of the conference’s teams residing on the East Coast, Stanford will travel the second-most miles (14,018) in the league this season, only behind Cal.
Stanford traveled over 2,800 miles to New York for its first ACC game on Sept. 18 to face Syracuse on Sept. 20. It returned to California on Saturday morning instead of staying on the East Coast. It will travel over 2,500 miles for Saturday’s game.
Cardinal coach Troy Taylor said Tuesday the team planned to have a practice at a local South Carolina high school on Friday, but those plans may change with the team arriving in the evening.
For Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, the weather caused the team to switch from practicing outdoors to inside on Wednesday. The Tigers look to win their second straight ACC game against Stanford in their first matchup since 1986.
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Will Stanford-Clemson football game be canceled or postponed?
Clemson closed its main campus on Thursday at 7 p.m. and it will remain closed on Friday with all scheduled classes canceled. The school announced in a release Thursday that its main campus and Upstate locations are expected to receive 8 to 10 inches of rain and wind gusts of 50-60 mph because of the hurricane.
Despite this and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster declaring a state of emergency on Wednesday, Stanford-Clemson’s matchup has not changed.
“The kickoff time for Saturday’s football game against Stanford remains scheduled for 7 p.m.,” according to the university.
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Hurricane Helene: When will Stanford arrive, status of Saturday’s game
