ORLANDO, Fla. – UCF and the American Athletic Conference have come together in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma to reschedule the conference matchup to September 30th, dropping the University of Maine from the schedule.

“It’s a great day to be a Knight! I’m excited about the rescheduling of the Memphis game, September 30th. It will take place of the University of Maine game,” said UCF Athletic Director Danny White in a Twitter video on Thursday evening.

“Excited our student-athletes get that game back, get that opportunity to show you how hard they’ve worked this offseason to make you proud. We’ll now have a full slate of conference games, all eight games and an opportunity to host a really good Memphis team,” said White.

“I want to thank our commissioner, Mike Aresco, Scott Draper, and the American Athletic Conference office. They did a phenomenal job reimagining this conference schedule, not only for us but for several other teams. My colleagues across the conference, several people were extremely flexible. Several other universities that weren’t even affected by the storm really bent over backwards for us and for South Florida and UCONN. I want to thank Tom Bowen, the Athletic Director at the University of Memphis for helping to make this happen and getting this game back on.”

“Please, season ticket holders, please check your inbox. We’ll be forwarding information relative to the game on September 30th. Again, we’re playing the University of Memphis, a really good football team right here in Spectrum Stadium on September 30th instead of the university of Maine.”

The game was the first of two games cancelled for UCF in preparation for the storm and in hosting the national guard after the damage was done to the Central Florida community. Rescheduling the game means that UCF will not play a diluted conference schedule, huge for a program dying to garner universal respect across the AAC.

Earlier in the week, White had posted a note for UCF football fans urging them to stay patient and consider the bigger picture after sharp rebuttal over the loss of two major home games.

UCONN and USF had their conference game canceled just before the Memphis game, and will play their make-up on November 4.

Photo courtesy of UCF Athletics Communications.

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