Arkansas-Texas football game postponed

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Saturday's college football showdown between Arkansas and ninth-ranked Texas has been postponed until Sept. 27 because of the threat of Hurricane Ike.

The contest was to be played at Royal-Memorial Stadium in Austin, but weekend forecasts for Hurricane Ike project that the storm will hit Texas, including the Austin region.

The schools agreed to the makeup date because both had byes scheduled on the final weekend this month.

"We have been monitoring this situation since Sunday and, at this time, feel confident this is the right thing to do," Texas athletics director DeLoss Dodds said in a statement. "A football game becomes less important when you are dealing with the safety of the people of Texas."

"The safety and welfare of the student-athletes, coaches and fans was everyone's top priority," said Arkansas director of athletics Jeff Long. "Both institutions felt that postponing the game was the appropriate course of action."