Former College Football Head Football Rick Neuheisel has called the Miami Hurricanes decision to cancel their game at Arkansas State suspicious. Neuheisel co-hosts the Full Ride on the newly created ESPNU radio on SiriusXM.
The delusion that is out there amongst a wide variety of pundits and fans that the Miami Hurricanes did not want to play the game is disturbing. According to Susan Miller Degnan of the Miami Herald, the University of Miami ordered a campus evacuation for the first time in school history.
The conspiracy theory that Miami didn’t want to play the game has been spreading throughout social media over the last few days. Neuheisel stated that because Florida Atlantic and Florida International are playing their games this weekend that Miami should be playing as well.
FAU is playing at Wisconsin on Saturday. The Badgers offered to take care of the accommodations for the Owls to stay longer than scheduled. FIU moved their game that was scheduled for Saturday against in Boca Raton to Friday night in Birmingham.
Earlier today Florida announced the cancellation of their game on Saturday against Northern Colorado. The game had been moved up from a night game to noon earlier in the week.
The only thing suspicious about the cancellation of the Hurricanes trip to Jonesboro, Arkansas has been some of the responses. They have ranged from fan writers with a bias to a well regarded former coach like Neuheisel.
This is not the first time Neuheisel has been involved in controversy. He was fired as the Head Coach at the University of Washington in 2003 after winning $12,000 in a NCAA Tournament pool.
Miller Degnan quoted Miami Associate Athletic Director UM senior associate athletic director Carter Toole about the severity and entirety of the situation at the University of Miami.
"“All of our student-athletes, not just the football players, were dismissed yesterday so they could be with their families and prepare for the storm,”"
If there is a sequel to Any Given Sunday, Neuheisel might be an ideal candidate to play a coach. He and the conspiracy theorist Oliver Stone would have a lot to talk about.
"I get the safety concerns, but this is suspicious." @CoachNeuheisel on #Miami not wanting to play Friday night at @AStateFB pic.twitter.com/bWETYEyMZX
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) September 7, 2017
In the discussion about Miami’s decision Neuheisel said:
"“(I dont think there is) anything wrong with being very safe, (FAU) which is sitting there in Boca, is traveling to Wisconsin this week…I get it…but this is suspicious. You don’t want to play the game, and they’re not making it up … to just say you’re not playing, especially when it’s not in Miami. If the Miami Dolphins were on the road this week, they’d be playing in the NFL. … I understand safety, and I’m going to defer to the calmer and wiser heads that know the path of Irma, but this to me looked like you didn’t want to play the game.”"
Thankfully it only seems to be the fans and media that have created this elaborate conspiracy theory. It’s unfounded to say that the Miami Hurricanes didn’t want to play the game and were somehow avoiding Arkansas State.
Red Wolves Head Coach Brent Anderson summed up the thoughts of his program compassionately.
"“I can’t imagine what it’s like having that kind of storm coming at us…We don’t have to deal with that coming at us. I find it hard to believe that a top-20 team in the country has got a problem coming to play us.”"
It’s commendable that the Miami Hurricanes played last season at Appalachian State. That they were scheduled to play this year at Arkansas State. They are scheduled to play at Toledo next season. Not many top of the Conference Power Five schools will play at a group of five opponent.