Florida got to Lexington in the nick of time.
The Gators were in the air on Friday when a nationwide FAA ground stop hit because of a communications outage that snarled air traffic across the country. Florida landed shortly after the stop was declared, getting on the ground just ahead of its Saturday night matchup with Kentucky.
Florida is scheduled to play the Wildcats on Saturday at 6:15 p.m. ET at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky., and the trip appears to have gone through without a hitch. The team’s X account showed coaches and players stepping off the plane, and the post came within an hour of flights being grounded nationwide.
Wheels down in Lexington. pic.twitter.com/u27ztu8NOJ
- Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) November 13, 2026
The FAA said the ground stop was ordered Friday afternoon because of “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” The outage began at about 3:36 p.m.
ET, according to U.S. transportation secretary Sean Duffy, and the ground stop followed around 3:54 p.m. ET.
Florida was fortunate. A number of other college football teams dealing with travel plans had their schedules adjusted as the disruption spread through the weekend slate.
Ole Miss-Oklahoma, originally set for 4:15 p.m. Saturday, has reportedly been moved to Sunday afternoon.
No. 2 Utah-No.
23 Arizona was pushed back three hours, from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. EST.
BYU-Baylor was moved to 8 p.m. ET from 4:30 p.m.
ET. Mississippi State’s game against Auburn shifted from Noon ET to 4:15 p.m.
Florida Atlantic’s game against Tulsa went from 3:30 p.m. ET to 7:15 p.m.
Kansas at West Virginia was moved up to 3:30 p.m. ET.
UCF’s game against Arizona State in Orlando, Fla., is now set for 5:30 p.m. ET after originally being scheduled for 4:15 p.m.
ET.
Not every team was flying, either. Purdue is traveling by bus to Iowa for its 7:30 p.m. ET game, and Colorado State even held a walk-through at Northern Colorado Regional Airport while waiting to fly to Pullman for its game at Washington State on Saturday night.
Scenes from the FAA stoppage: Colorado State is holding a walk-through at Northern Colorado Regional Airport as the team waits to fly to Pullman to play at Washington State on Saturday night. pic.twitter.com/JiKvb9FAJ5
- Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 14, 2026
When asked about the impact on college football teams, Duffy said, “I would encourage those football teams to reach out to the FAA, to schedule their flight times and make sure they can move,”
The situation was still being monitored Saturday, with flights already resuming in some places. Duffy also said there is "no guarantee" the issue won’t happen again.
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