It took all of 10 seconds for officials to decide that Florida Field was not capable of hosting a football game Saturday night.
But the decision on whether the Idaho Vandals will return to Gainesville and collect their $975,000 is one that Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley won’t announce until all the “moving parts” have finally settled.
“Obviously there's a lot of questions out there as it relates to Saturday night's game, what's going on moving forward,” Foley said Monday before coach Will Muschamp’s weekly press conference. “We don't have those answers yet . . . We'll know something here (Tuesday) or Wednesday at the latest.”
After Florida’s season opener was officially suspended following a 2-hour, 48-minute weather delay on Saturday night, the two schools were presented with four options.
The Gators and Vandals could resume the game with the “same time remaining and under the identical conditions of down, distance, field position and player eligibility” at a later date — such as Oct. 25 when each team has a bye week.
They could also terminate the game with a determined final score, forfeit the matchup or declare a “no contest.”
Both Foley and Idaho athletics director Rob Spear are expected to continue talks throughout the week and determine which one of the four viable options is best for both schools.
Until that agreement has been made, Foley will not reveal any specific details about what will become of the $975,000 owed to Idaho or whether Florida will sacrifice its bye week before the Georgia contest in order to fulfill a 12-game regular season.
“Obviously we need to reach out to the University of Idaho,” said Foley, who is the second-longest tenured athletics director among FBS schools.
“My staff and I met this morning and talked about possible scenarios. … We're not trying to be secretive, there's just a lot of different things we have to consider. And we are working through those things as we speak.”
If UF does pay Idaho the nearly million-dollar payout that the two schools agreed upon in 2009, the money won’t be transferred until Feb. 1 — which is part of Florida’s “standard language” in football contracts.
The last time Florida dealt with rescheduling during the season was when Hurricane Frances forced the Gators to push back their 2004 season opener against Middle Tennessee — originally scheduled on Sept. 4 — to the middle of their Southeastern Conference schedule on Oct. 16.
If the Florida-Idaho game were to be rescheduled for Oct. 25 in Gainesville, Florida would then be forced to end its regular season playing nine games in nine weeks.
“I haven’t even really thought about it,” Muschamp said. “I’m going to control the controllables, and right now I have zero control of that situation. And once I’m told whatever we’re going to do, we’re going to go after it full speed.”
Valdez Showers, who returned Saturday’s opening kickoff 64 yards in the game’s only play, spoke with the media Monday and stressed the importance of having a bye week in the midst of a treacherous SEC slate.
"It's a long season and, to be honest with you, a lot of players take advantage of those bye weeks, trying to really get in the treatment room and get treated up during the off week,” said the redshirt junior receiver. “But we definitely look forward to those bye weeks."
If Florida decides to preserve its off-week, Foley would then be tasked with the challenge of possibly reimbursing Idaho for making the 2,738-mile trek — not to mention the hassle of handling the ticket situation for Gator fans.
“We’re trying to figure out all those things right now,” Foley said. “Again, when we come forward with whatever decision we come forward with, we’re going to have answers to everything financially, dates, tickets, reasons, all that sort of things. We’re just not there yet.”
Follow Jonathan Czupryn on Twitter @Jczupryn
Florida huddles on the field prior to kickoff in its season opener against Idaho on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The game, which was initially delayed two hours and 48 minutes due to lightning, was suspended after field conditions were deemed unsafe to play. Details regarding rescheduling have yet to be finalized.
