A four-hour-and-21-minute nationwide Federal Aviation Administration ground stop on Friday afternoon forced the SEC to postpone Saturday’s No. 19 Ole Miss at Oklahoma football game to Sunday, delayed at least four Saturday college football kickoffs, and sent NBA, NHL and college teams scrambling for charter buses and overnight hotel rooms.
Fans tuning in or heading to stadiums this weekend face five schedule changes across the SEC and Big 12. No. 19 Ole Miss at Oklahoma moved from Saturday afternoon on SEC Network to Sunday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m. ET with Sunday television broadcast plans still unannounced, while Saturday kickoffs shifted for Auburn at Mississippi State (4:15 p.m. ET), Kansas at West Virginia (3:30 p.m. ET), Arizona State at UCF (5:30 p.m. ET) and, according to an ESPN source, Baylor at No. 10 BYU (7 p.m. ET).
The travel crunch began on Friday, Nov. 13, when the FAA halted all US departures from 3:54 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. EST “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety” during a four-hour telecom outage that delayed more than 10,000 flights and canceled over 4,200. “The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide updates,” the agency said in an FAA statement, after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy explained that overloaded data switches and routers produced inconsistent data across the 22 regional centers directing en route aircraft. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Friday evening that new FAA equipment appeared to have overwhelmed older systems, ruling out a cyberattack or any link to Thursday’s Microsoft outage in what became only the third nationwide ground stop in US aviation history after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and the January 2023 FAA computer malfunction.
How Every League and Team Adjusted Weekend Travel
No. 2 Utah at No. 22 Arizona
Second-ranked Utah was halted on Friday as the Utes tried to depart for Saturday’s Big 12 road matchup against No. 22 Arizona.
No. 8 Texas at No. 24 LSU
Texas (ranked No. 8 in the ESPN report and No. 6 by CBS Sports) was sitting on the tarmac when the FAA ordered the ground stop, returned to its Austin campus during the four-hour wait, and then flew out and landed in Baton Rouge late Friday night for Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff against LSU (No. 24 in ESPN, No. 21 in CBS Sports).
No. 9 Tennessee at Texas A&M
Tennessee (ranked No. 9 in ESPN and No. 8 in CBS Sports) deplaned and returned to campus in Knoxville during Friday’s stoppage before flying out and landing in Texas late Friday night, keeping Saturday’s 3 p.m. ET kickoff at Texas A&M on schedule.
No. 19 Ole Miss at Oklahoma
No. 19 Ole Miss (6-3), coming off a 42-7 home loss to No. 1 Georgia, did not fly to Norman on Friday night for its game originally set for 3:15 p.m. CT (4:15 p.m. ET) Saturday on SEC Network, prompting the SEC to move the game to Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Oklahoma enters the matchup needing one more win for bowl eligibility, and Sooners athletic director Roger Denny criticized SEC commissioner Greg Sankey’s decision on X on Saturday under threat of a forfeit, CBS Sports reported. “I understand that difficult decisions sometimes must be made under extraordinary circumstances,” Denny wrote, adding, “Put simply, this decision isn’t fair to our athletes, our institution or to Sooner nation.” Pointing to Ole Miss, Denny wrote, “But, unlike every other team traveling for competition tomorrow, they were unable to find a solution,” before concluding, “But we’ve been given no other choice. We are obligated to play the game when directed, but we remain steadfast in our belief that the wrong outcome was reached this evening.”
Auburn at Mississippi State
Auburn bypassed the grounded flights by boarding buses to Starkville, and the SEC pushed Saturday’s kickoff against Mississippi State back from noon ET to 4:15 p.m. ET.
Purdue at No. 15 Iowa
Purdue chartered buses out of West Lafayette, Indiana, on Friday to make the trip for Saturday’s Big Ten game at No. 15 Iowa.
Kansas at West Virginia
In the Big 12, conference officials pushed Saturday’s kickoff between Kansas and West Virginia in Morgantown to 3:30 p.m. ET.
Arizona State at UCF
Arizona State deplaned on Friday and sent players home to rest during the stoppage, scheduling a Saturday morning flight to Orlando, Florida, after the Big 12 moved its game against the UCF Knights from 3:30 p.m. ET to 5:30 p.m. ET.
Baylor at No. 10 BYU
Saturday’s Big 12 game between Baylor and No. 10 BYU in Provo was rescheduled to 7 p.m. ET, an ESPN source said.
Oregon State at No. 24 Boise State
Oregon State initially started traveling to Idaho by bus for Saturday’s 6 p.m. ET game against No. 24 Boise State before turning back to the airport Friday evening with plans to fly to Boise later Friday night, according to an ESPN source.
Wyoming at UTEP
Group of 6 club Wyoming was grounded on Friday while trying to depart for Saturday’s road game at UTEP.
Colorado State at Washington State
Stranded before its trip to Pullman for Saturday night’s matchup at Washington State, Colorado State held a team walk-through inside Northern Colorado Regional Airport while waiting for clearance to fly.
Tulane at Rice
Scheduled to fly to Houston for Saturday’s game against Rice, Tulane arranged to put its traveling party onto five buses Friday night for the 350-mile drive across Louisiana and Texas.
Washington, Kansas State and Minnesota
All three schools were grounded Friday; Washington spokesperson Kurt Svoboda said the Huskies returned to campus during the halt while staying in touch with their Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines partners, whose crew remained in place for a planned late Friday flight.
Florida State at Pittsburgh, Illinois at No. 4 UCLA and No. 14 Houston at Colorado
Already on the road for Friday night kickoffs, Florida State, Illinois and No. 14 Houston played as scheduled while hoping their postgame charter flights home would avoid delays, and the Big Ten confirmed in a statement that all of its game officials had arrived for Saturday’s slate.
Early Departures and Sunday NFL Games
Every traveling ACC team took off before the ground stop began, as did Missouri (visiting No. 1 Georgia), Duke (at No. 5 Miami), No. 10 Texas Tech (at Oklahoma State), Northwestern (at No. 20 Ohio State) and No. 13 Wake Forest (at SMU), while No. 18 USC was en route to No. 9 Indiana and NFL teams playing Week 10 games on Sunday were expected to fly on Saturday as planned.
Brooklyn Nets
One of five NBA teams scheduled to fly Friday ahead of Saturday games, the Brooklyn Nets had just boarded their team plane in New Orleans after playing the Pelicans earlier in the week when the FAA halted their flight to Memphis on the tarmac.
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons avoided the stoppage by flying earlier Friday to Miami for their Saturday game.
Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls and Memphis Grizzlies
All three NBA teams played Friday night with flights scheduled afterward. In Miami, Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson said 90 minutes before tipoff that the Cavaliers were scrambling to book Friday night hotel rooms before deciding to stay overnight and fly at 9 a.m. ET Saturday for their Saturday matchup against the Dallas Mavericks, which ESPN described both as a home game and as a morning departure for Dallas. “It’s part of it. You just adapt,” Atkinson said.
Florida Panthers and San Jose Sharks
Ahead of 14 scheduled NHL games on Saturday, the Florida Panthers and a majority of traveling clubs reached their destinations before the ground stop, leaving the San Jose Sharks waiting in San Jose to see if they could fly to Utah.
No. 3 USC Women’s Basketball at No. 1 South Carolina
JuJu Watkins and undefeated No. 3 USC (3-0) had just boarded their flight at Los Angeles International Airport bound for Greenville, South Carolina, ahead of Sunday’s game against No. 1 South Carolina when the stoppage forced the Trojans to deboard and return to the Galen Center.
US Men’s National Team vs. Haiti
Saturday’s Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal first leg between the US men’s national soccer team and Haiti in Miami stayed on schedule because both teams and the match officials had already arrived before flights were grounded.