App State game vs. Liberty off due to Helene

Appalachian State has canceled its home football game scheduled for Saturday against Liberty due to damage caused by Hurricane Helene.

In a news release, the western North Carolina school said the hurricane has caused “severe impacts to App State, the town of Boone and surrounding areas.”

The game will not be rescheduled.

However, Liberty AD Ian McCaw told ESPN that, if possible, the program would like to add a 12th game this season to replace the game against App State. Liberty is currently 4-0 and would only be able to play 11 regular-season games if they aren’t able to find a 12th game, which could hurt their chances of securing a College Football Playoff bid.

Heavy rains in the North Carolina mountains brought flooding to Boone and the town was placed under a state of emergency Thursday.

The storm made landfall late Thursday in a sparsely populated region of Florida with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph. But the damage extended hundreds of miles to the north.

Elsewhere, the Nashville Predators postponed their home preseason NHL game against the Tampa Bay Lightning scheduled for Friday night because of severe weather. The game was rescheduled for Oct. 7.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.