Well, in the college football world, the storm is over. With the 2024 season wrapped up and the 2025 NFL Draft in the books, college football fans might recall Mother Nature’s unpredictable hand. Coaches often advise focusing on controllable factors, a wise sentiment. Yet, nature frequently delivers the most significant disruptions, like sudden downpours and lightning halting games. For example, the Miami Hurricanes’ home opener against Ball State faced a two-hour weather delay. Now, Mother Nature seems all set to surprise again, as a college football analyst has shared a worrying weather forecast. But thank God, it’s the offseason. 

The spring is over, and the summer is all set to hit. However, as per the latest updates, severe storms are expected to rattle areas in the south-central, northeast, and southeast US. According to AccuWeather reports, thunderstorms will sweep across parts of the U.S. this week, bringing threats of tornadoes, large hail, flash flooding, and damaging wind gusts. And as we all know, the nation has a bitter past when it comes to tornadoes.

In 2024, there were 1,882  confirmed twisters. Last year marked the most active tornado season since 2017. On Tuesday, May 6th, the threat was severe for South Central states. On Wednesday, May 7, the severe weather threat will shrink southward to a zone in southern Texas and along the Gulf Coast.

Now, this marks the hub for college football programs. The Gulf South Conference was formed by six universities in the summer of 1970. The college football programs include Delta State, Florence State (now North Alabama), Jacksonville State, Livingston (now West Alabama), Tennessee–Martin, among others. While this might be a respite for the college football fans, that the offseason falls prey to the bad weather, an analyst tweeted to keep everyone in the affected area in prayers.

On May 6, National Sports commentator for FOX Sports, Tim Brando, came up with a tweet. “Prayers answered at least for this round of turbulent weather here at home as its move eastward continues keep the Gulf South in yours 🙏🙏. Mississippi, Alabama and the panhandle of Florida in its sights. ☔️🌧️🌪️”

Flooding, large hail, damaging winds, and a few isolated tornadoes are possible in these states into the overnight hours. Just a few days back, North-east Alabama witnessed an EF1 tornado that tracked across Jackson and DeKalb Counties on Saturday, May 3. Had it happened during the season, college football fans would have been reminded of the games where not the opponent programs, but nature, chose to play foul. 

Times when the weather stole the show in college football games

The 2024 season witnessed nature’s fury. For instance, the snowy scene in South Bend from Notre Dame vs. Indiana face-off went viral. The official X page of Notre Dame even shared a picture of the snow-covered Notre Dame stadium on December 19. A snowman stood overlooking a gridiron covered in white dust. Then came the college football playoffs with a lot of ‘brr!’ moments. 

When Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel was asked whether the near-freezing weather at Ohio State might pose a challenge for his team, the head coach quickly noted that it wouldn’t be the Volunteers’ first rodeo with the cold. But yeah, the Buckeyes eventually won! Again, on September 15, 2024, New Mexico’s plan was diverted from Montgomery to Mobile due to bad weather. Besides the last season, college football fans have witnessed many such situations in the recent past. 

On September 17, 2022, the Nevada Wolfpack was facing off against the Iowa Hawkeyes. And guess what? After a total of 3 hours and 56 minutes in lightning delays, the game finally began on a new day. It concluded at 1:39 the following morning with the Hawkeyes prevailing 27-0. Now, if we travel further back in time, college football fans must be remembering the Fog Bowl of 2004. The game was played between the USC Trojans and Oregon State behind a curtain of fog. The visibility was so poor that even the fans in the stadium were barred from seeing the action unfold. Storms, snow, fog, or sunshine—the Weather Gods own college football’s greatest wildcards.