Tom Herman: ‘Everything on the table’ for Orange-White game with rain forecast

A big day of sports on the Forty Acres this Saturday could suffer from unobliging weather, as the forecast currently calls for a 100-percent chance of thunderstorms as the Texas Longhorns attempt to play the Orange-White game at 6:30 p.m. Central at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Since some of the thunderstorms could be severe, school officials are aware of the situation and are currently considering contingency plans in the event of rain.

“I would say everything is on the table, from going in The Bubble to moving it to Sunday to moving it up on Saturday to playing it as it’s scheduled,” head coach Tom Herman said on Tuesday.

Of course, the weather forecast could change as the week progresses, so it will be a few more days before the likely conditions come into focus.

One thing is for sure — Texas will find a way to get in its 15th practice of the spring. The question is whether it will happen at the scheduled time and the scheduled place so fans can get their only public look at the team until the fall.

At the moment, however, it appears that Herman’s hopes of drawing a large number of fans to the event by moving it to the evening and including entertainment like four bands on two stages in the stadium during pre-game festivities could fall flat due to poor conditions.

“Maybe it was too hot last year,” Herman said in March. “Maybe it was on a tough weekend for people to come out. There are schools out there, regardless of record, putting 80-90,000 people in the stands for a spring game. I don’t see why the University of Texas should be any different. We’ve moved it to nighttime so hopefully it will be a little bit cooler. People will get all their chores and lakeside jogging in, all that stuff in during the day. Then hopefully come see the Longhorns that night.”

Update: Sounds like a decision is possible on Thursday about the game’s status:

Since Tuesday, the rain chances for Saturday have dropped from 100 percent to 80 percent, which is good news. On Thursday, there should be an hour-by-hour forecast available to start determining whether there’s probably going to be rain at game time. Stay tuned.