College Football Chaos: Nationwide Flight Freeze Strands Ranked Teams, Forces Ole Miss-Oklahoma to Move Game Day
Friday’s ground stoppage of U.S. air travel might have been over in four hours, but its effects were rippling throughout the weekend.
Vacationers were forced to adjust their plans, work travelers had to change itineraries.
And in the world of sports, as ESPN reported, college football programs traveling to Saturday games had to call an audible to keep the schedule going — or change the schedule entirely.
In the West, for instance, No. 2 Utah’s Saturday matchup against No. 23 Arizona in Tucson was pushed back from 5:30 p.m. MST to 8:30 p.m. (7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Eastern) to allow for the Utes to travel Saturday morning after being unable to get out of Salt Lake City International on Friday, according to The Deseret News, a Salt Lake City newspaper.
Other big-name teams, such as Texas and Tennessee, were stranded at airports without their flights out, ESPN reported. Then they were forced to return to campus while alternate arrangements were made.
According to Athlon Sports, a digital sports media outlet, seven college football games had to be rescheduled for Saturday as teams coped with the chaos.
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. https://t.co/JiKvb9FAJ5
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 14, 2026
Signing you in…
Please keep this page open. The results will appear here.
Check your email to count your vote
We sent a confirmation link to .
Click Confirm Your Vote in that email to count your vote and unlock the results.
Your vote has not been counted yet. If the email hasn't arrived, check your spam or junk folder.
And for the storied program at the University of Mississippi, the change was even more drastic.Instead of playing at Oklahoma on Saturday, as originally scheduled, the Rebels of Ole Miss are now set to play the Sooners at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
It might be the dream of every college football player to play on Sundays, but that dream is generally to be wearing an NFL team’s jersey. Not playing a rescheduled college game.
It was a decision made by the SEC, not the teams. And Oklahoma Athletic Director Roger Denny was not happy.
“Rescheduling the game has a significant impact, particularly on our fans,” he wrote in a post on the social media platform X published Friday. “Those who have made travel arrangements, accommodations and personal plans around a Saturday game now face unnecessary disruption and hardship.”
But Saturday sports aren’t just about college football.
According to ESPN, the air stoppage — which the FAA is blaming on work to replace copper communication lines — also sent NBA teams scrambling if they’d planned travel on Friday.
And it wasn’t just the teams. In an X post published Saturday, the league announced officiating crew changes in Saturday’s games
Due to yesterday’s ground stoppage impacting air travel, the following referee assignments have been made for this evening.
Dallas-Cleveland (Nov. 14, 7:30 pm ET):
Crew Chief: Tyler Ford (#39)
Referee: Eric Lewis (#42)
Umpire: Jenna Schroeder(#20)Chicago-Minnesota (Nov. 14, 8 pm ET):
Crew Chief: Nick Buchert (#3)
Referee: Brian Forte (#45)
Umpire: Scott Twardoski (#52)— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) November 14, 2026
As of Saturday afternoon, long after the stoppage was lifted at 8:15 p.m. Friday, more than 4,600 flights were canceled nationwide, according to the New York Post. Another 4,400 were delayed, the newspaper reported.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
