CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- No. 16 Miami's game at Arkansas State on Saturday has been canceled over concerns about Hurricane Irma, a powerful Category 5 storm that forecasters believe will affect Florida this weekend.
Getting to Arkansas for the game would not be the problem for Miami. The potential issue would be getting back to Miami, and the uncertainty over what will happen with the storm led to the decision to err on the side of caution.
The game will not be made up in 2017.
Arkansas State athletic director Terry Mohajir said University of Miami officials turned down an option to play the game Friday night.
Despite Arkansas State's offer to help with travel and accommodations, Mohajir said, "ultimately, the Miami administration made the decision not to travel."
Some members of the Hurricanes' women's basketball team were evacuating on Wednesday to Georgia to get out of Irma's expected path. Miami has canceled classes until at least Monday.
In addition, the NFL has announced that Sunday's opener between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins has been postponed until Week 11 in November.
UCF's home game against Memphis has already been moved to 6:30 p.m. Friday night in anticipation of the dangerous storm, the most powerful seen in the Atlantic in more than a decade.
Florida International announced Wednesday they will play Saturday's scheduled home game against Alcorn State at a neutral site in Birmingham on Friday. The game will kickoff at 7 p.m. ET.
No. 10 Florida State has moved up the kickoff of Saturday's home game against Louisiana Monroe from 7 p.m. to noon ET.
"It will give ULM the opportunity to travel safely after the game, and provide many of our fans a chance to come to the game and return home in time to make any necessary preparations," FSU president John Thrasher said.
The game Saturday between South Florida and UConn in Connecticut was moved up 90 minutes to 10:30 a.m. to allow the Bulls additional time to return to their Tampa, Fla., campus in advance of Hurricane Irma.
Dozens of high school football games in Florida were either cancelled or rescheduled, and Miami also cancelled two volleyball matches, two women's soccer games and a cross country meet because of the expected storm.
With sustained winds of 185 mph, Hurricane Irma made its first landfall in the islands of the northeast Caribbean early Wednesday. It's now on a path toward Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba before possibly heading for Florida over the weekend.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.