MIAMI -- Fear of the damage that powerful Hurricane Matthew may cause prompted two college football postponements Thursday, and it had the NFL plotting just-in-case scenarios for games scheduled in Tampa and Miami this weekend.
A pair of college games set to be played Saturday -- LSU at No. 18 Florida, as well as Charlotte at Florida Atlantic -- were postponed. The Tigers-Gators game that was scheduled for Gainesville is off indefinitely, and the Charlotte-FAU game scheduled for Boca Raton is now tentatively planned for Sunday.
Saturday night's game that has No. 23 Florida State visiting No. 10 Miami remains on as scheduled, although officials remain cautious. The Georgia at South Carolina game has been moved from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, Gamecocks Coach Will Muschamp said on his radio show Thursday.
A major issue with games in Florida this weekend isn't the weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday, because those days look to be generally fine around the state. It's whether police, first responders and other key personnel needed at football games that draw big crowds will be deployed to assist in areas that will take the brunt of Matthew's force.
"This is a potentially catastrophic event for the state," Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley said, "and public resources need to be employed where they're most needed."
Matthew has prompted four major college football postponements this weekend. Besides the Florida and FAU home games, and the Georgia-South Carolina game, it was decided earlier in the week that the Tulane at Central Florida game -- first scheduled for today -- will be played next month.
In Virginia, Massachusetts' game at Old Dominion has been moved up to tonight.
Florida State originally planned to fly to Miami on Thursday evening; the Seminoles remained home and now plan to make the trip south today. Miami moved into its home-game hotel ahead of schedule, in part because its campus was closed and classes were canceled.
"Our hope is to be able to play at Hard Rock Stadium," Miami Athletic Director Blake James said. "Obviously, things can happen that prohibit that."
The NFL hopes to play at Hard Rock Stadium as well -- the Miami Dolphins are to host the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
The metro Miami area was not taking the brunt of the storm, and sunshine is in today's forecast. But there are things to assess before deciding whether the FSU-Miami and Titans-Dolphins games can be played, namely whether it's safe for fans to be on the roads and whether police departments have the resources to simultaneously handle football crowds and hard-hit areas.
Tampa Bay is to play at Carolina on Monday night.
Resources were also a factor in South Carolina, where Gov. Nikki Haley said state troopers needed to be free this weekend for hurricane detail -- not Gamecocks football.
"The 100 to 200 troopers that they usually request or need would not be available to them," Haley said.
It wasn't clear whether the game being moved to Sunday would change her stance.
The Miami Heat got out of town Wednesday for a couple of days of practice in Houston, in advance of their next preseason game in Kansas City on Saturday.
"You always err on the side of caution," Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said. "You can't leave late in these things. It's one of the few natural disasters that happen that you have an opportunity to plan for."
The Florida Panthers practiced Thursday morning, and Coach Gerard Gallant said he and his wife were riding the storm out at home after stocking up on provisions.
"Lots of peanut butter, jam, lots of bread," Gallant said.
FAU said it will assess after the storm clears whether Sunday is a viable option to play. For now, FAU's football team is staying across the state in Tampa, well out of Matthew's path. FAU's volleyball team practiced at Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers on the southwest side of the state, which was a hurricane haven of sorts.
Some other cancellations and postponements announced Thursday:
• South Carolina's men's soccer game in Miami against FIU, scheduled for Saturday, was pushed back to Monday because of travel concerns.
• The Tampa Bay at Florida NHL preseason game, which was scheduled for Thursday and postponed earlier this week, will not be made up.
• In women's golf, this weekend's stop on the Symetra Tour, the IOA Golf Classic near Orlando, was canceled. Next week's season finale in Daytona Beach remains on as scheduled.
Sports on 10/07/2016