After several days of monitoring the approaching storm, the biggest schools in South Carolina had little choice but to alter football games due to Hurricane Florence.

South Carolina Wednesday canceled its game with Marshall that was scheduled for Saturday night. University officials announced the decision just hours after head coach Will Muschamp sounded confident the teams would play.

Second-ranked Clemson pushed up the start time of its game at home against Georgia Southern, with the kickoff now taking place at noon instead of 3:30 p.m. EST.

“Whether or not the game could have been played, we made the decision we think is best for the state and those who are evacuating the coast,” South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner said. “There is no question this is the right thing to do.”

As of Tuesday, about 1.7 million people in North and South Carolina and Virginia were under warnings to evacuate the coast, and hurricane watches and warnings extended across an area with about 5.4 million residents.

South Carolina will look to add a 12th game to its schedule later this season.

It is the third time in four seasons Tanner and the football team have had severe weather change its football schedule.

In 2015, a home game against LSU was moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, because of fatal flooding a week earlier. Personnel needed to handle a home game at 80,000-seat Williams-Brice Stadium were need to cope with flood-related emergencies.

A year later, Hurricane Matthew swamped the area and South Carolina’s home game against Georgia was delayed a day and played on a Sunday.

Clemson officials cited the “uncertainty” of Florence’s track. On Tuesday, officials felt hopeful of forecasts that had the storm turning slightly north. By Wednesday, though, the dangerous, Category 4 monster had turned slightly southward with some projections saying it will settle over the Palmetto State for a bit.