Too many variables prevented Iowa State and South Dakota State from turning around and playing on Sunday after the canceled game on Saturday.

“We did not seriously consider playing the game on Sunday for several reasons, including hotel accommodations for SDSU late last night,” said Iowa State Athletic Director Jamie Pollard in a statement to Cyclone fans. “Furthermore, had we attempted to play today we would have been impacting normal preparation for the team’s games this week.

“Lastly, the forecast for today included more of the same type of weather we experienced last night.”

With the opener in the rearview mirror, where do the Cyclones go from here?

Making up the game

Iowa State Athletic Director, Jamie Pollard, targeted the weekend of Oct. 20 for a potential makeup game with another team.

Meanwhile, South Dakota State plays Northern Iowa on Oct. 20, so the Jackrabbits are out of the equation.

“We began working late [Saturday] night to identify other opponents we could play during our bye week (Oct. 20) or during championship week (Dec. 1),” Pollard said. “The challenge is the opponent would need to be available to play (not scheduled to play on one of those dates) and eligible to play (either experienced a cancellation or did not schedule a full slate of games this year).

“Needless to say it will be difficult to find an opponent that meets those requirements and is interested in coming to Ames.”

Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams, such as South Dakota State, are only allotted 11 regular season games per season. That rules out a number of teams Iowa State could have potentially scheduled on Oct. 20.

Around the nation

Outside of Ames, a few other schools battled mother nature. Nebraska and Akron canceled due to weather. After an attempt to play on Sunday fell through, Nebraska could be scrambling for a 12th game, since the Cornhuskers will likely be on the bubble for a bowl game.

Toward the east coast, East Carolina and NC A&T postponed Saturday’s game. The two teams ended up playing on Sunday with NC A&T winning 28-23.

Ohio State and Oregon State, Maryland and Texas, Air Force and Colorado, Liberty University and Old Dominion and West Virginia and Tennessee dealt with delays throughout games, but the weather subsided enough to finish the games.

Virginia and Richmond pushed back the start time by 40 minutes.

Looking forward to Cy-Hawk week

Rain appears to be likely according to most weather forecasts in Iowa City, Iowa on Saturday and throughout the week.

“The big issue is that we do at this point have showers and thunderstorms especially in the morning, maybe not as wide-spread and diminishing in the afternoon, so that’s going to be the main concern,” a National Weather Service employee said.

The National Weather Service predicts upper-60s for the high on Saturday. Saturday morning has around a 70 percent chance of rain, but as most Iowans know, that’s subject to change as it approaches.