Teams keep eye on Hurricane Matthew

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Teams across the southeastern portion of the U.S. were keeping a close eye Tuesday on the progress of Hurricane Matthew, which forecasters say could have a major impact on no fewer than four states by later this week.

Storm shutters were being drawn shut across windows at the University of Miami, where the 10th-ranked Hurricanes were preparing for their annual rivalry game with No. 23 Florida State on Saturday. A hurricane watch was already posted for parts of Florida, while the southernmost portions of the state were under a tropical storm watch.

"I don't know what we'll do, to be honest with you," Miami Coach Mark Richt said. "Just keep everybody safe, first. We'll do the best we can."

The Atlantic Coast Conference -- which could have at least five Saturday football games affected if the storm strikes as forecasters believe it could -- said it was monitoring Matthew closely and hoped that games will be played as scheduled.

In South Carolina, Gov. Nikki Haley planned to issue an evacuation order today so that up to 1 million people can leave coastal areas. South Carolina is still planning to host its Southeastern Conference football game against Georgia on Saturday night.

"As of now I can't imagine that happening," Haley said. "But certainly we're going to continue to watch this."

While the football game remained on, two other South Carolina-Georgia events -- equestrian and volleyball, both scheduled for Friday -- were postponed.

Other postponements announced Tuesday included a pair of FCS games originally set for Saturday, Albany State at Charleston Southern and Bethune-Cookman at South Carolina State.

The first U.S. sports cancellations related to Matthew came on Tuesday, including the decision by Gulfstream Park West to scrap its live thoroughbred racing cards starting today through Friday.

Today was to be first day of racing this season at the track in Miami Gardens, Fla.

Also, Elon moved its football game with New Hampshire up a day to Friday due to the storm.

The Tampa Bay at Florida NHL preseason game scheduled for Thursday remains scheduled, for now. Numerous upcoming high school football games in South Florida this week have already been postponed or canceled.

Along with the Miami-Florida State game, other ACC games that figure to be potentially affected Saturday include Army at Duke, Virginia Tech at North Carolina, Syracuse at Wake Forest and Notre Dame at N.C. State.

There's a possibility that some of the ACC games could be moved to Sunday, if necessary. That isn't a possibility for Florida State-Miami -- since the Miami Dolphins play at Hard Rock Stadium, the field the Hurricanes use, on Sunday against Tennessee.

The Dolphins said that other than keeping tabs on the storm, there's no change to any of their plans yet.

"It's just now kind of a wait-and-see for us," Dolphins Coach Adam Gase said.

Sports on 10/05/2016

Upcoming Events