MIAMI — Hurricane Wilma is already causing problems for sporting events scheduled for this weekend.

With Wilma expected to arrive with potentially devastating force in Florida by early Saturday, the Nationwide Tour's Miccosukee Championship was canceled — just one of several events impacted by the approaching storm.

Wilma was a Category 5 storm Wednesday, the strongest possible grade given to a tropical system. It was expected to hit southwestern Florida, then move quickly across the state and perhaps close to the greater Miami area by early Sunday.

Wilma would be the eighth hurricane to either strike or brush Florida since August 2004.

The tournament was the final full-field event of the season, giving players one last chance to finish among the top 60 on the money list and qualify for the Nationwide Tour Championship next week.

Brian Henninger was 61st on the money list, $6,601 behind Scott Peterson.

"While we are disappointed to cancel this week's tournament, particularly with so much at stake for players, we need to focus on people's safety first," said Bill Calfee, chief of operations for the Nationwide Tour.

In other Wilma-related developments:

School and Atlantic Coast Conference officials postponed Saturday's game between Georgia Tech and sixth-ranked Miami.

"That thing looks pretty dangerous to me," Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey said. "It jumped from a tropical storm to Category 5 in about 20 hours. That's a little scary."

No. 20 West Virginia's trip to Tampa to face South Florida also was postponed. The Big East will wait until Thursday to announce when the Mountaineers and Bulls will play.

Georgia Tech will play at Miami on Nov. 19. Miami's scheduled trip to Wake Forest on Nov. 17 — a Thursday night game — will now be played on Nov. 12. ACC spokesman Brian Morrison said no decision has been made on whether the league will shift another game into that Thursday night slot previously held by Miami and Wake Forest.

Miami athletic director Paul Dee said several scenarios were considered, but none was as practical.

"There were a lot of elements involved in the game," Dee said. "The players, the coaches, the fans particularly, allowing them to come to the game without the pressure of a storm coming down on us."

The Miami Dolphins were taking a wait-and-see attitude and monitoring the storm's path. The Dolphins are scheduled to host the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday afternoon.

"Nobody in this room, with all of our power and might put together, can have anything to do with where it goes," Dolphins coach Nick Saban said. "What we can try to do is have something to do with preparing for the game and doing our job well and having pride in the performance of what we have to do."

The NHL's Florida Panthers had not made any announcement about Saturday night's game against Ottawa. Team officials said an announcement would be made by noon Thursday.

Central Florida's home game with Tulane — a team forced from its city, school and home stadium by Katrina's strike along the Gulf coast — will be played on Friday night, instead of Saturday.

"Unfortunately, we have a lot of experience in dealing with these situations," said Tulane athletic director Rick Dickson.

The Orlando Magic said Saturday's home NBA preseason game against Atlanta is still scheduled. The Miami Heat are scheduled to be on the road for several days around the storm's expected landfall, meaning their preseason schedule should be largely unaffected.

Florida Atlantic's football team is at Arkansas State on Saturday, and scheduled to fly back to South Florida after the game — a flight that could be delayed depending on Wilma. "We're on the road, so we'll probably be better off than most," said athletic department spokeswoman Katrina McCormick.