In what has become a routine nuisance this season, football games are once again yielding to Mother Nature.

With Hurricane Wilma expected to make landfall in Florida this weekend, Saturday’s game between No. 6 Miami and Georgia Tech has been postponed.

Atlantic Coast Conference officials did not announce a makeup date. Miami athletic director Paul Dee had said Nov. 17 and 19 are options. This would require the Hurricanes to reschedule their Nov. 17 matchup at Wake Forest, which would take away a nationally televised, high-exposure Thursday night game from the Demon Deacons.

“We are currently working with both institutions to reschedule the game,” ACC commissioner John Swofford said.

Wilma swelled to a Category 5 storm Wednesday, with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph. It was expected to hit southwestern Florida, then move quickly across the state – perhaps near the Miami area – by early Sunday.

“These things are serious,” Miami coach Larry Coker said. “We know that. If we don’t know it, we should just reflect back a few weeks to Katrina. It came through here as a Category 1 and trust me, we don’t want to see much more.”

Saturday’s game between Central Florida and Tulane was moved to Friday night. Officials at South Florida continued to monitor Wilma’s progress Wednesday, but Saturday night’s Big East matchup with No. 20 West Virginia remained as scheduled.

TOUGHING IT OUT

Miami’s Kyle Wright insisted he would have been ready to play against Georgia Tech this weekend. The sophomore quarterback underwent an MRI exam on his sprained right thumb Tuesday and then returned to the practice field hours later.