The University of Maine football team will have another bye week after attempts to schedule a game for Sept. 30 in the wake of the cancellation of the Central Florida game were unsuccessful.
Hurricane Irma created a number of scheduling conflicts, including the postponement of a Sept. 9 American Athletic Conference game between Central Florida and Memphis. Central Florida’s Sept. 16 non-conference game against Georgia Tech was canceled outright.
Central Florida subsequently canceled the UMaine game in order to fit Memphis into that date.
UMaine, a Football Championship Subdivision team, will still receive the $350,000 it was guaranteed by Football Bowl Subdivision team Central Florida courtesy of a buyout/cancellation clause included in game contracts with FBS schools. The money goes to UMaine’s general athletics budget and is not specifically earmarked for the football program.
Ddespite searching for a suitable opponent to fill the gap left by the UCF cancellation for Sept. 30, the University of Maine has determined it will not fill the void and will play a 10-game schedule for 2017,” UMaine Director of Athletics Karlton Creech said in a press release.
UMaine, one of the few FCS teams that schedules two FBS games each year, also is scheduled to play Massachusetts on Nov. 11 at 4 p.m. at Fenway Park in Boston.
The Black Bears, who had an open date last weekend, face top-ranked and defending FCS national champion James Madison on Saturday afternoon in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
UMaine’s next game is an Oct. 7 road contest at Villanova. The Wildcats, who advanced to the FCS playoffs a year ago, are 2-1 and ranked seventh in one national poll and eighth in the other.
UMaine athletic media relations spokesman Tyson McHatten said head coach Joe Harasymiak will follow the same protocol he did last week leading up to the bye. The Black Bears will practice only twice next week rather than four times, which is the norm leading up to a game.
The Black Bears on Wednesday regained the services of All-CAA wide receiver/punt returner Micah Wright on Wednesday but his status for the JMU game remains up in the air. McHatten said Harasymiak will make a decision on Friday morning, when the team is scheduled to depart for Virginia.