Ole Miss spent Friday night in Oxford instead of on the way to Norman, and that alone tells you how much the FAA shutdown scrambled Week 11.
The Rebels were supposed to play Oklahoma on Saturday at 3:15 p.m. CT, but their travel plans got caught in the nationwide grounding of flights tied to a telecommunication outage. By the time the FAA announced the closure of all U.S. airspace, Ole Miss had not yet left University-Oxford Airport, and the team stayed put even after the ground stoppage was lifted.
That leaves the Rebels in a tight spot. If the game stays on the original schedule, Ole Miss will have to fly out Saturday morning, get to Norman and squeeze in all the usual pregame work in a much smaller window than planned. If not, a new kickoff time could be in play.
CBS Sports reported that Ole Miss chose not to fly to Oklahoma on Friday night after the FAA reopened the airspace. An Ole Miss spokesperson told CBS Sports the program was still working through its options and coordinating with the appropriate groups on both travel and the game.
The possibility of a postponement has already surfaced. Chase Parham of 247Sports reported that Ole Miss players were first told to go home and report back to the facility Friday evening, with Sunday mentioned as a possible backup if travel could not be sorted out. Later, On3’s Pete Nakos reported the Rebels would leave for Norman on Saturday morning, though there was still no confirmation that the game would be moved.
A Sunday kickoff would buy Ole Miss more time, but it would also create headaches for both teams, both conferences and the broadcast schedule.
Ole Miss is hardly alone in dealing with the fallout. CBS Sports reported that Tennessee, Texas, Washington and several other programs were affected by the shutdown. Some teams had already made it to their destinations, while others had to find another way to travel.
In the SEC, Missouri was already in Athens for its game against Georgia, and South Carolina was safely in Arkansas. Tennessee managed to line up a Friday night flight to College Station after the FAA lifted its restrictions. Auburn took the bus to Starkville for its matchup with Mississippi State, while Texas, which was on the tarmac when the ground stop was announced, had to rethink its trip before heading to Baton Rouge.
The ripple effects may not stop with the teams. CBS Sports also reported that the SEC was checking whether any officiating crews for Saturday’s games were affected, and television personnel and other behind-the-scenes staff could run into similar problems as everyone tries to get back on schedule.
The SEC acknowledged the situation in a statement Friday night, saying it was communicating with member schools to assess possible disruptions.
For Ole Miss, the immediate task is simple enough to say and messy enough to execute: get to Norman and be ready for a conference game that now has a very different feel around it. The Rebels entered Week 11 trying to keep their postseason hopes alive against an Oklahoma team that will be at home, and the travel chaos only adds another layer to the day.
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