AUSTIN - With Hurricane Ike barreling toward the Texas coast, sports officials across the state are postponing games, moving them inland, changing starting times or still trying to decide if games will be played this weekend.

Saturday’s scheduled matchup between eighth-ranked Texas and Arkansas was postponed until Sept. 27, which was an open date for both schools. Houston moved its game with Air Force to Southern Methodist’s stadium in Dallas, and Texas Christian moved up the starting time for its game with Stanford.

Baylor officials said they still were monitoring Ike before deciding what to do with their 11:30 a.m. Saturday kickoff against Washington State.

Several high schools along the Gulf Coast and in Central Texas already have decided to call off or reschedule weekend football games.

On Wednesday, storm forecasts predicted Ike would come ashore Saturday somewhere between Corpus Christi and Houston and move northwest toward Austin, Temple and Waco.

“We have been monitoring this situation since Sunday and, at this time, feel confident this is the right thing to do,” Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said in announcing the postponement of the game with the rival Razorbacks. “A football game becomes less important when you are dealing with the safety of the people of Texas.”

Although Austin is more than 200 miles from Corpus Christi, the capital city still could get slammed with tropical-storm-level wind and rain when Ike reaches the area.

Complicating matters is that if the state orders a mandatory evacuation of the coastline, Austin likely will be faced with thousands of residents trying to get out of the way of the storm.

“As we worked closely with the University of Texas to consider the options, the safety and welfare of the student-athletes, coaches and fans was everyone’s top priority,” Arkansas AD Jeff Long said.

In Fort Worth, TCU said the Horned Frogs’ game against Stanford will kick off at noon instead of 6 p.m. to try to beat the bad weather.

Houston’s home game against Air Force was moved to Dallas. The game will be played Saturday at SMU’s Ford Stadium at 2:30 p.m., said Chris Burkhalter, Houston associate athletics director.

The Houston Astros are scheduled to open a key three-game home series with the Chicago Cubs starting Friday.

The Astros never have had a weather-related postponement at 8-year-old Minute Maid Park, which has a retractable roof.