Helene forces the App State-Liberty repeal and hinders the Broncos

Appalachian State has canceled its home game against Liberty scheduled for Saturday due to damage from Tropical Depression Helene.

In a news release, the school in western North Carolina said the storm had “severe impacts on App State, the city of Boone and surrounding areas.”

The game will not be rescheduled.

However, Liberty AD Ian McCaw told ESPN that the program would like to add a 12th game this season, if possible, to replace the game against App State. Liberty is currently 4-0 and could play just 11 regular season games if they fail to find a 12th game, which could hurt their chances of earning a College Football Playoff bid.

Heavy rains in the mountains of North Carolina led to flooding in Boone and the city was declared a state of emergency Thursday.

The storm made landfall late Thursday in a sparsely populated region of Florida as a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour. But the damage stretched hundreds of kilometers to the north.

Also in North Carolina, East Tennessee State was unable to complete its trip to Charleston, South Carolina, for its game against The Citadel scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. due to flash flooding.

Elsewhere, the Denver Broncos, who spent a week at the Greenbriar Resort in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, before Sunday’s game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium, had to complete their practice indoors on Friday. The resort, which has two grass fields and one outdoor grass field, does not have an indoor soccer field.

So the Broncos did their work on the resort’s indoor tennis courts.

“Everything went well … we got the job done,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “…The change was made relative to the lightning forecast.”

“This is a first (for me),” Broncos linebacker Cody Barton said. “They have some pickleball courts down there too, but yeah, that’s a first for me.”

“Maybe a basketball court, a ballroom, but this is the first time on a tennis court,” Broncos wide receiver Josh Reynolds said.

The Broncos spent the week at Greenbriar after their game last Sunday in Tampa. On Friday, the team’s travel plans also changed with the weather, as instead of traveling from the nearest airport to New Jersey, they took a bus to Roanoke, Virginia, for their charter flight.

Additionally, the Nashville Predators have postponed their NHL preseason home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning scheduled for Friday evening due to severe weather. The game has been postponed to October 7th.

Jeff Legwold of ESPN and The Associated Press contributed to this report.