Stanford updates its travel plans for Clemson as Hurricane Helene slams Southeast

Hurricane Helene is forcing some major changes to the college football calendar in Week 5, and the Stanford Cardinal have felt the impact.

The program is supposed to head to Clemson to face the Tigers this weekend, in what should be a massive ACC clash, but the Cardinal have run into a variety of travel issues. Their flight was cancelled on Thursday, but according to Andrea Adelson of ESPN, Stanford is heading to the airport on Friday afternoon to try again, and the word is they’ll make it in time to play on Saturday.

“Stanford had boarded its plane and sat on the tarmac waiting for takeoff before its flight was canceled yesterday. Buses are set to leave campus to head back to the airport at 1 ET, and flight is on as scheduled,” Adelson reported. “Remember, Stanford was at Syracuse last week. Not ideal!”

While the Cardinal lost a day of preparation due to Hurricane Helene cancelling their flight on Thursday, making it across the country in time for the game seems like the main goal at the moment. Once they get to the stadium, it’s anyone’s guess what could happen during the ACC clash.

Moreover, Hurricane Helene had max sustained winds of 140 miles per hour at the time of landfall in Florida at around 11:20 PM EST on Thursday, September 26th. The storm is also expected to bring with it catastrophic storm surge in the state of Florida and life-threatening winds.

It figures to be a major problem this weekend across the college football landscape, as three different states on the East Coast have already declared a state of emergency.

While Stanford lost Week 1 to TCU 34-27, they bounced back with a 41-7 win over Cal Poly and a 26-24 win over Syracuse. Cardinal quarterback Ashton Daniels has been decent the first few games, completing 61.5% of his passes for 562 yards, while tossing in four touchdowns with three interceptions.

Additionally, he’s done some damage as a runner, with Daniels amassing 163 rushing yards already on the ground, leading the team in that stat category.

Continuing, the most dominant receiver for Stanford is, without a doubt, Elic Ayomanor. He looks the part of an NFL receiver and quite frankly, has the film to back that up.

Ayomanor made one of the best catches of the 2024 season against Syracuse, when he hauled in this beautiful one-handed snag. So far this year, he’s hauled in 17 catches for 234 yards and a touchdown.

Stanford and Clemson are set to tangle on Saturday, Sept. 28th. Kick time for that one is set for 7:00 PM EST and the game will be nationally televised on ESPN.

On3’s Wade Peery contributed to this article.