Auburn’s trip to Mississippi State is still on the board, but the way the Tigers get there has changed.
With the FAA ground stop disrupting flights across the country, Auburn football will travel by bus for Saturday’s Week 11 game in Starkville. The issue has forced widespread cancellations at U.S. airports because of a major communication problem affecting Air Route Traffic Control Centers, and CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello reported there is no proof the disruption was caused by a hack from either a foreign or domestic threat.
For Auburn, the timing at least softens the blow a little. The Tigers are staying within their region, even if the travel plans have been thrown into flux.
At this point, there have been no announcements suggesting the game itself is in danger of being played. That said, the situation remains fluid.
Auburn had originally planned to fly out of Columbus and then take a bus from the Tupelo, Mississippi, airport after landing. Alex Golesh had already spent part of the week talking about the challenge of an 11 a.m. C.T. kickoff and the kind of road trip that comes with it.
“Early kick on the road in the league. Every challenge that you can imagine comes with it.
This is a tough travel. I talked about it at length this morning.
The morning game piece is real. This is as early start with a legit travel and a bus ride in the morning.
We’ve got to practice what that looks like and that started this morning. Into Tuesday, into Wednesday, into Thursday and into Friday having the right focus and the right detail and the right energy level to go start fast,” .
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Foul trouble and shooting issues made the night harder to sort out than a typical early-season setback, and Arizona took advantage of the openings. For Auburn, the bigger takeaway may be less about the final margin than about which combinations held up when the game tightened, and which ones did not. Pearl now has a little more evidence to weigh as the Tigers move ahead, especially if he wants a rotation that can better survive the kind of pressure Arizona brought to Neville Arena. [Read more 🡒]
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The problem was the kind that can undo good stretches against quality opponents: turnovers, fouls and missed free throws. Auburn showed it can defend and get production beyond the starters, but until the Tigers clean up the mistakes that kept giving Arizona extra chances, the margin for error against ranked teams will stay thin. [Read more 🡒]
Alex McPherson Keeps Giving Auburn Fans More Reasons To Trust Him
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For Auburn, the bigger story is the steady trust McPherson has built through consistency and poise. He owns the best career field goal success rate in school history at 87.7 percent, and he has spoken about his gratitude for representing Auburn while embracing the relationship he has with fans. In a program where every kick can swing a season, that kind of reliability carries real weight. [Read more 🡒]