A rare nationwide ground stop ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday forced numerous college football programs to scramble for alternative transportation and reschedule games.
The agency halted all air traffic, marking only the third time in history such a measure was taken, due to a communications issue that “overloaded older equipment” within regional control centers, per reports from the Chron.
The disruption resulted in over 13,000 flight delays and 4,000 cancellations, according to “data released during the event.”
Teams including Texas, Utah, and Tennessee faced significant travel hurdles while preparing for games with potential College Football Playoff implications.
The Texas Longhorns eventually confirmed they were headed to Baton Rouge for their matchup against LSU late Friday night, as noted by the “team’s official social media updates.”
Other programs utilized different strategies to reach their destinations.
Tulane opted to travel by bus for 350 miles to Houston to face Rice, while Baylor saw its game at BYU pushed back to a 6 p.m. kickoff.
The most significant scheduling conflict involved Oklahoma and Ole Miss.
After the Ole Miss charter company could not accommodate a late-night departure, the SEC announced that the game was moved from Saturday to Sunday.
Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny expressed frustration regarding the change.
He stated that “difficult decisions sometimes must be made under extraordinary circumstances” but argued the move was unfair to his institution.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey maintained that the game would result in a forfeit if Oklahoma failed to appear on the new date.
This incident follows previous operational issues in the aviation industry, such as when “Spirit ceased operations in May,” which previously caused logistical concerns for smaller programs.
Athletic departments continue to monitor how such infrastructure failures impact behind-the-scenes football operations.