MIAMI (AP) -- Florida State and Miami may have to wait a few days before playing their season opener.
School officials were strongly considering postponing the game five days from Monday to Sept. 11 because of Hurricane Frances. They were expected to announce a decision Thursday.
``We'd like to play it, but I'm not sure it's in the cards,'' Florida State president T.K. Wetherell said Wednesday.
Wetherell said evacuations along Florida's east coast would cause travel problems for fans, band members and others heading south to the Orange Bowl. The hurricane also could be moving through Tallahassee on Sunday or Monday.
``I'm not sure we want to be gone with all that going on,'' Wetherell said.
ABC executives and officials from both schools were discussing proposals Wednesday for rescheduling the game. A likely scenario would move it to Saturday.
Miami athletic director Paul Dee said he would discuss the situation with Atlantic Coast Conference and Florida State officials Thursday.
Miami has had two other games postponed because of hurricanes in the last seven years.
The Hurricanes had a game against UCLA postponed more than two months in 1998 because of Hurricane Georges, and had one against Temple delayed nearly three months in 1999 because of Hurricane Irene.
The game between fifth-ranked Florida State and No. 6 Miami was scheduled to be the only prime-time game on Labor Day.
``I hope it still works, but it sure doesn't look good,'' Wetherell said.
Frances, a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph top sustained winds, was due near Florida's Atlantic coast late Friday or early Saturday.
The threat caused Bethune-Cookman and Savannah State to cancel their game in Jacksonville on Saturday and forced Hampton and Jackson State to move their season opener Saturday from Orlando's Citrus Bowl to Virginia.
Other Florida schools were waiting to see Frances' progress before deciding what to do about their season openers. No. 11 Florida hosts Middle Tennessee State on Saturday night.
Florida International also plays against Jacksonville on Thursday in Miami.
Also Wednesday, the University of Florida men's basketball team postponed a weekend trip to the Bahamas. The trip will be rescheduled after this year.
In baseball, the Florida Marlins had not decided whether to postpone any of this weekend's three-game series against the Chicago Cubs. A possible solution could be a Friday doubleheader, with the third game played when the Marlins travel to Chicago for a scheduled three-game series Sept. 10-12.
After beating Montreal on Wednesday night, the Cubs said they planned to return home for an off-day on Thursday instead of flying to Fort Lauderdale as originally scheduled.
The Florida State League canceled its final three days of games in the East Division, starting Friday, but play in the West will continue. Daytona Beach-Vero Beach playoffs were to start Tuesday, but league president Chuck Murphy said that could change if Frances damages stadiums.
In boxing, the camp of boxer Bernard Hopkins announced the IBF middleweight champion will be leaving his training center in Miami Beach for Las Vegas to avoid the storm. Hopkins is preparing to fight WBO middleweight champion Oscar de la Hoya on Sept. 18.
``I'm used to ducking big punches, and I plan on ducking Frances, who I heard is carrying a powerful punch,'' Hopkins said.
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