By Adrian Beecher | SkyBoat.org
Friday’s nationwide ground stop left No. 19 Ole Miss without a flight to Oklahoma and moved the Rebels’ game in Norman to Sunday. Eight other Football Bowl Subdivision games got new Saturday kickoff times, including a ranked Big 12 matchup in Tucson that will now start at 10:30 p.m. Eastern.
The Federal Aviation Administration halted departures nationwide after intermittent telecommunications outages disrupted air traffic control communications and radar systems. The stop began at 3:54 p.m. Eastern and was lifted at 8:15 p.m. But by then, some teams had switched to buses, others were planning to fly on game day and Ole Miss still had no way to leave Oxford that night.
The Southeastern Conference moved the Rebels’ game from 4:15 p.m. Eastern on Saturday to 1 p.m. Sunday. The league said Ole Miss’ charter operator could not accommodate a late Friday departure once flights resumed, leaving the team to depart Saturday afternoon. Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny said the school objected to the change and that SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey told Oklahoma it would forfeit if it declined to play Sunday.
Auburn found a way to get to Starkville on Friday after its flight was grounded. The Tigers took a bus to Mississippi State, and the SEC moved kickoff from noon to 4:15 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. What had been an 11 a.m. start for fans in Mississippi became a 3:15 p.m. game.
The Big 12 made four changes. No. 2 Utah’s visit to No. 22 Arizona moved from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on Fox after the Utes’ Friday departure was disrupted. Utah entered the weekend alone atop the conference standings and had not won in Tucson since 2021.
Arizona State returned to Tempe after its charter was held in Phoenix and planned to fly to Orlando on Saturday morning. Kickoff at UCF shifted from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPNU. Kansas and West Virginia moved in the opposite direction, taking over the 3:30 p.m. Eastern slot on ESPN2 after originally being scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Baylor’s game at No. 12 BYU moved from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern on Fox after the Bears were grounded in Waco.
In the Big Ten, Washington’s game at Michigan State moved from 4:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern. The Huskies were held in Seattle on Friday, prompting a 75-minute adjustment to the kickoff in East Lansing.
The American Conference changed two games. Tulane’s trip to Rice, originally set for 2 p.m. Eastern, moved to 4:30 p.m., giving the Green Wave more time to get to Houston for Rice’s homecoming game. Florida Atlantic’s game at Tulsa moved from 3:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Eastern. That change also reached the soccer schedule. Tulsa reset the American’s men’s soccer championship match for 3 p.m. Central, ahead of the evening football kickoff, and said tickets already purchased for either event would still be valid.
A disrupted flight did not always mean a new kickoff. Kansas State arranged to fly to Fort Worth on Saturday morning for its 2 p.m. Eastern game at TCU. Texas also had to revise its Friday travel plans to Baton Rouge, but its 7:30 p.m. Eastern kickoff at LSU stayed on the schedule.
