Arizona State’s trip to UCF turned into a scramble Friday night after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded domestic departures, leaving the Sun Devils stuck in the middle of a travel mess just hours before kickoff.
The team had already reached the airport and was sitting on a plane waiting to leave for Orlando, Fla., when the shutdown hit at 3:54 p.m. ET.
For two hours, Arizona State waited for takeoff before eventually getting off the plane and heading back to the team facility. The trip was supposed to be routine.
Instead, everything got thrown off at once.
“All of our luggage is still on the plane,” ASU strength coach Joe Connolly said. “Lots of guys are without their wallets and keys.”
Connolly said roughly 20 to 30 players were expected to be without access to their apartments Friday night. For a program that usually maps out travel down to the minute, the sudden disruption created a different kind of challenge.
“It’s been kind of a nightmare, but you just gotta roll with the punches,” he said. “This is more of a mindset type of thing rather than a physiological type of deal.”
Arizona State’s tentative plan was to gather for a 5 a.m. local-time team meeting, fly out at 6 a.m., arrive by noon ET and then head straight to the hotel for a pregame meal and a short clap session. Connolly made it clear there wasn’t much room for anything else.
“We really don’t have time to do anything else,” Connolly said. “We barely have enough time to get our pregame meal down the hatch.”
The FAA lifted the nationwide ground stop a little after 10 p.m. ET Friday, and the schools later announced the game would kick off at 5:30 p.m.
ET instead of the original 3:30 p.m. ET start.
That still leaves Arizona State with a tricky day: a roughly 1,900-mile flight, four-plus hours of sitting, and a game only a few hours after landing. Training staff can help with soft tissue work and resistance bands, but the reality is the Sun Devils will have to get loose fast.
Kenny Dillingham said his teams have handled Friday flights before when playing games two time zones away. This, though, was different.
“You can’t predict a worldwide stoppage,” he said.
The 36-year-old said his group will be ready anyway.
“I’ve coached high school games before where we’ve had four-hour bus rides, so let’s dance!
“There’s really nothing you can do about it. It is what it is.
And it’s not like they’re gonna count it as 0.75 in the loss column if you lose. If you make a big deal about it with your team, then it’s a big deal.
I’m trying to make it as un-big-of-a-deal as we can.”
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