Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos released a statement Sunday afternoon following the cancelation of the Huskers football game against Akron.
“Everyone associated with last night’s season opener is disappointed that the weather did not cooperate, and we were unable to play the game," Moos said. "We were dealing with a fluid situation, and at all times we were operating with public safety as our number one concern. During the delay, there were numerous scenarios discussed for contingency plans for playing the game, including a scenario to play the game on Sunday. Unfortunately, Akron faced some logistical challenges and the decision was made to cancel the game. Regarding any potential additions or adjustments to the 2018 football schedule, we will explore and discuss those options in the coming weeks. In the meantime, fans are encouraged to hold onto their tickets from last night’s game in the event a game were to be added later in the season. At this point, everyone’s focus and attention has moved onto preparation for opening our season against Colorado on Saturday afternoon.”
The Huskers were scheduled to open its 2018 season against Akron on September 1, but weather forced the game to be canceled.
According to our partners at the Omaha World-Herald, in the week prior to the game officials discussed the possibility of weather but never discussed moving up the game to an earlier time. Huskers athletics officials were not expecting the lightning strikes that took place around 7:15, which is why kickoff still took place.
Once the teams officially postponed the game at 9:55, Nebraska did look in to contingency plans to play Sunday and started coordinating with police and city officials in Lincoln. Nebraska was in direct contact throughout the night with the Big Ten and FOX to try and find a time to play the game and inside the weather center they heard the game would be played Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
However around 10:20 p.m. Akron officials said there would be no game and the team was leaving, which is when Nebraska officially canceled the game at 10:28.
Nebraska's had very few cancellations and postponements in program history. In 1991, the Huskers had a 19-minute delay in the third quarter against Utah state but play resumed after that.
In 1943, Nebraska and Pittsburgh canceled its game due to World War II travel restrictions and that cancellation happened in advanced.
In 1892 Missouri forfeited because Nebraska had a black player, George Flippin, on its roster and af ew years prior Nebraska canceled games with Grinnell and the KC Medics.
Nebraska will now open the 2018 season versus Colorado at Memorial Stadium on September 8.
