Oklahoma’s matchup with Ole Miss will no longer kick off Saturday afternoon. The Southeastern Conference announced the game, originally set for 3:15 p.m. Saturday, has been pushed to noon Sunday because the Rebels ran into travel problems.
Ole Miss had planned to fly to Oklahoma on Friday, but that trip was halted by a nationwide ground stop ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration. Once the delay hit, the Rebels were unable to make their scheduled departure, and the SEC later moved the game back a day.
The league said the change came after it was clear a late-night arrival would not work with the charter company tied to Ole Miss’ travel plans. That left Sunday as the new option.
Oklahoma was not thrilled with the switch, but the Sooners accepted it after the conference made its decision.
“We recognize the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the ground stoppage and understand the challenges it created for teams across the country,” OU athletic director Joe Castiglione said in a statement. “As soon as we learned of Ole Miss’s travel issues, we immediately began communicating with their staff and our conference leadership.
We were told that Ole Miss explored every avenue to travel to Norman and play on Saturday as planned. But, unlike every other team traveling for competition tomorrow, they were unable to find a solution.”
Castiglione added, “We understand that difficult decisions sometimes must be made under extraordinary circumstances. But those decisions must also consider the impact on everyone involved.
Put simply, this decision isn’t fair to our athletes, our institution, or to Sooner Nation. But we’ve been given no other choice.
We’re obligated to play the game when directed, but we remain steadfast in our belief that the wrong outcome was reached this evening.”
He also said, “We will continue to fight in the best interests of OU Athletics and always on behalf of our student-athletes and fans. On Saturday, we will share more on game logistics and fan appreciation measures.”
The Sooners had played a 2018 season opener against Houston on a Sunday before, but this one is different. Oklahoma is not particularly happy about the move to Sunday this time around.
“We are disappointed about the move to Sunday,” OU athletic director Joe Castiglione said in a statement. “We recognize the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the ground stoppage and understand the challenges it created for teams across the country.
As soon as we learned of Ole Miss’s travel issues, we immediately began communicating with their staff and our conference leadership. We were told that Ole Miss explored every avenue to travel to Norman and play on Saturday as planned.
But, unlike every other team traveling for competition tomorrow, they were unable to find a solution.”
Castiglione said the Sooners were informed after multiple conversations with the SEC office that the game would be moved.
“We understand that difficult decisions sometimes must be made under extraordinary circumstances,” he said. “But those decisions must also consider the impact on everyone involved.
Put simply, this decision isn’t fair to our athletes, our institution, or to Sooner Nation. But we’ve been given no other choice.
We’re obligated to play the game when directed, but we remain steadfast in our belief that the wrong outcome was reached this evening.”
He finished by saying, “We will continue to fight in the best interests of OU Athletics and always on behalf of our student-athletes and fans. On Saturday, we will share more on game logistics and fan appreciation measures.”
Ole Miss’ travel issues came after the Rebels had been expected to make the trip Friday, and the SEC said the delay forced the schedule change. The conference also noted that other teams, including Texas and Tennessee, still managed to reach their road destinations on Friday after the stop was lifted at 5:13 p.m.
Both Oklahoma and Ole Miss are dealing with the fallout now, but the game itself is still on. It just won’t happen when it was supposed to.
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