Friday’s FAA chaos put college football travel plans in a blender, but the people who keep the sport moving did their jobs and saved a messy weekend from getting even messier. The Federal Aviation Administration’s third nationwide ground stop in history, triggered by a mass communication outage, sent schedules into disarray and left teams scrambling.
Colorado State even had to hold a walkthrough on a tarmac. By Saturday morning, though, only one game - Mississippi-Oklahoma, a certified fiasco - had been pushed to Sunday.
That kind of damage control doesn’t happen by accident. It happened because the sport’s travel staffers moved fast under pressure, and they deserve their flowers.
Kerry Callender and Mary Marsden at Utah, Laura Barlow at Tennessee, Wayne Langbein and Nicole Wood at Washington, and plenty of others around the country helped keep this weekend intact. For a profession that usually works in the background, Friday was a reminder of just how much these unsung heroes matter.
On the field, Wisconsin’s season keeps taking strange turns. The Badgers entered Saturday with a last-five-game stretch that looked like a weekly mood swing: a blowout over Michigan State, a 17-7 loss at UCLA, a 24-7 win over USC that seemed like a breakthrough, a 30-0 no-show against Iowa, and a 31-10 win over Rutgers.
Then Maryland arrived, playing with a new edge under interim coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, and rallied from a 10-0 deficit to put a serious dent in Wisconsin’s faint Big Ten title hopes. The quarterback situation in Madison is still unsettled, but the bigger issue is the defense, which let Maryland quarterback Cardell Williams go 21-of-23 for 183 yards and a touchdown while also scoring twice on the ground.
Wake Forest, meanwhile, turned disrespect into fuel and flattened SMU in Texas. Barely favored and sitting at No. 13 in this week’s CFP standings, the Demon Deacons came out swinging and built a 42-0 halftime lead, not far off from last Saturday’s 49-0 edge over Merrimack at the break.
They also converted 12 of 18 third- and fourth-down chances, a ruthless number that told the whole story. Jake Dickert delivered the line of the day when he said SMU had “nowhere to hide” at halftime.
If this team misses the CFP - even with a hypothetical second ACC championship loss to Miami - the sport will be worse for it.
Northwestern also let a chance slip away against Ohio State. Every team that loses to the worst Ohio State team in 15 years is wasting an opening, and the Wildcats did exactly that.
They were without star quarterback Aidan Chiles, but that didn’t excuse the missed opportunity after three takeaways and a surprisingly cautious approach from a Chip Kelly-coordinated offense. Given the gap between Northwestern’s play last season and this one, the 2026 record can’t look like 7-6 again.
With Minnesota and Illinois still ahead, that’s suddenly in play.
In Other News...
Marylands Coaching Search Just Became Far More Ambitious
Marylands coaching search has taken a notable turn, with Brian Kelly recently interviewing for the Terrapins vacant job. The former Notre Dame and LSU coach has been out of the dugout since LSU fired him last fall, spending this season as a CBS analyst and SiriusXM co-host while the school moved on from Mike Locksley earlier in October.
Kellys name immediately raises the level of the search, which already has included other familiar candidates such as Chip Kelly, Dan Mullen and Biff Poggi. For Maryland, the next hire will shape not just the programs direction but also how aggressively it tries to position itself in a crowded Big Ten coaching market. [Read more 🡒]
Marylands Sudden QB Change Just Changed Everything For The Terps
Cardell Williams did not need long to make his first start feel like a turning point for Maryland. In a tense Big Ten game at SECU Stadium, the quarterback settled the Terrapins in from the opening stretches, helping them control the pace against Wisconsin and keep the Badgers from ever fully dictating the afternoon. His efficiency stood out immediately, and the offense looked far more settled than a unit still adjusting to a sudden change under center.
Williams finished with school-record marks in completion rate and consecutive completions, and he accounted for three total touchdowns in a 24-21 win that felt as much about composure as production. Maryland still had to close it out late, and S. O'Haire delivered the deciding field goal to seal it, but the bigger question now is whether this one-game spark has permanently altered the Terps' quarterback picture. [Read more 🡒]
Maryland Let A Statement Win Slip Away When It Mattered Most
Maryland had a chance to turn a strong start into a signature win, building an 11-point lead against Virginia before the game slipped away in the second half. The Terps looked in control early, but the Cavaliers kept hanging around and eventually flipped the momentum with a blistering finish that left Maryland searching for answers after a loss it could have used.
Virginias offense was relentless down the stretch, shooting better than 62% from the field and hitting nine of its final 10 shots. Maryland, meanwhile, ran into trouble with its own shot-making and ball security after halftime, and Buzz Williams along with several players pointed to the same broad takeaway afterward: the Terps have work to do if they want to close out games like this one. [Read more 🡒]