MIAMI -- Florida State and Miami will still play in prime time, just four days later than planned.
The nationally televised game, originally scheduled for Monday
night, was postponed Thursday as Hurricane Frances moved closer to
Florida's east coast. The opener for (No. 10 ESPN/USA Today, No. 11 AP) Florida's opener against Middle Tennessee State on Saturday also was rescheduled.
The game between the (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today, No. 5 AP) Seminoles and the (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP) Hurricanes will be played Sept. 10, a Friday night, at the Orange Bowl. The game was the only prime-time game on Labor Day. It will still be televised by ABC.
"Our biggest concern is for the safety of anyone who is in the
path of Hurricane Frances, and we felt the appropriate thing to do
is to reschedule the game," Miami athletic director Paul Dee said.
Florida's home game will be played Oct. 16, athletic director
Jeremy Foley said.
In baseball, the Florida Marlins postponed Friday's series
opener against the Chicago Cubs. The team said no decision has been
made on whether to call Saturday or Sunday games off, or when
Friday's postponement will be made up.
"The Florida Marlins organization has been closely monitoring
the progression of Hurricane Frances in relation to our weekend of
baseball against the Chicago Cubs," Marlins president David Samson
said in a statement. "We are first and foremost concerned about
the safety of all residents in the state of Florida and will return
to baseball-related activities at Pro Player Stadium when the storm
has passed and it is safe for our fans to attend."
Marlins players were anxious to get back home before the
hurricane hits.
"A lot of us have houses and family down there, so obviously
we're worried about it," pitcher Carl Pavano said. "It's tough
with what's going on in Florida right now."
Added outfielder Juan Pierre: "I know I'm getting home and I'm
getting out of Dodge. It looks like it's going to hit us; let's
hope it's not too bad."
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have been in contact with league
officials about their possibilities. Tampa Bay is scheduled to play Detroit Friday through Sunday at Tropicana Field.
"The No. 1 thought in our minds is safety," Devil Rays
spokesman Rick Vaughn. "Safety for our fans, our players and our
employees."
The Tigers are in St. Petersburg. They were off Thursday after
completing a series at Kansas City on Wednesday
In the NFL, the Miami Dolphins said Thursday they were still
planning to travel to New Orleans for Friday's preseason finale with the Saints, but that could change. Dolphins players feared leaving their families behind with the hurricane approaching.
Frances, packing winds of 145 mph, is expected to hit the state
late Friday or early Saturday. More than a million threatened
people were told to clear out Thursday, and residents scrambled to
board up homes and stock up on water and gasoline ahead of what
could be Florida's mightiest storm in more than a decade.
Several other sports events already had been postponed or
canceled, including Thursday night's Jacksonville-Florida
International football game and Saturday's Gateway Classic between
Bethune-Cookman and Savannah State at Alltel Stadium in
Jacksonville.
Hampton and Jackson State moved their season opener Saturday
from Orlando's Citrus Bowl to Virginia.
South Florida's Monday afternoon football game against
Pittsburgh at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium is still scheduled for
a 4:30 p.m. kickoff, the school said Thursday afternoon.
Miami has had two other games postponed because of hurricanes in
the last seven years; one against UCLA was delayed more than two
months in 1998 because of Hurricane Georges, and one against Temple
was delayed nearly three months in 1999 because of Hurricane Irene.
The Atlantic Coast Conference has a policy that it doesn't
normally play games on Friday nights, not wanting to compete with
high school football. But the league made an exception for Florida
State and Miami.
"As much as we anticipate this game between these great rivals,
public safety and welfare obviously outweigh any other
considerations," ACC Commissioner John D. Swofford said. "At the
appropriate time, we will once again turn our attention to the
excitement and anticipation of this ACC matchup."
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said he was pleased that the
game will still be played at night and maintain a national
audience.
"That's the next best time, in my opinion, that we could have
it," Bowden said. "It's kind of like 'Monday Night Football'
because you have the whole night by yourself."
The St. Vincent and the Grenadines national soccer team was
stuck in the Miami airport on its way to Mexico for a qualifying
game on Saturday. CONCACAF deputy secretary general Ted Howard said
the organization was working on getting the team to Mexico.
A hurricane warning covered much of the state's eastern coast, meaning wind of at least 74 mph was likely by midmorning Friday, three weeks after Hurricane Charley raked the state's western coast with 145 mph wind, causing billions of dollars in damage and killing 27 people.
With its winds also at 145 mph, Frances is as strong as the
Category 4 Charley, and it's twice the size, with hurricane-force
winds extending up to 80 miles from its center, said Stephen Baig,
a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. That means
the path of destruction could be much wider. Frances was also about
twice the size of 1992's Hurricane Andrew, the Category 5 storm
that destroyed much of southern Miami-Dade County.
Traffic on Interstate 95, a main Atlantic coast highway, started
to back up by lunchtime Thursday. Supermarkets were stripped of
bottled water and canned goods, and long lines formed before dawn
outside home supply stores in Palm Beach County, with dozens of
people hoping for a chance to buy plywood or generators.