College football got a jolt it didn't expect on the eve of a host of big games Saturday.
The Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide for several hours Friday, impacting thousands of flights and throwing travel plans into question for scores of college football teams. Most travel the day before Saturday kickoffs.
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Many schools — including No. 2 Utah, No. 8 Texas and No. 9 Tennessee — had to scramble to figure things out. The Utes' game at No. 22 Arizona was pushed back three hours to a 10:30 p.m. Eastern kickoff. Baylor's game at No. 12 BYU was also moved back by 3 1/2 hours, to a 7 p.m. EST kick.
No. 19 Ole Miss was unable to get out of Starkville, Mississippi, on time and ended up having its game at Oklahoma moved to Sunday at 1 p.m. EST — going head-to-head with early NFL action. The decision also drew the ire of Sooners athletic director Roger Denny.
“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 (Saturday), they were unable to find a solution,” Denny said in a message posted on X. "After multiple conversations with the league office, commissioner (Greg) Sankey informed us of his decision to move our game to Sunday, over our strong objection.
“After continued discussions, he further informed us that our failure to play on Sunday at the directed time would result in a forfeit.”
Denny said the decision “isn't fair to our athletes" or fans but "we've been given no other choice” after “the wrong outcome was reached."
Some teams — including the Longhorns (at LSU) and Volunteers (at Texas A&M) — were not expected to travel until late Friday at the earliest, meaning they would suit up for a game on far less sleep than usual. The Big 12 shifted the Arizona State-UCF game from 2:30 p.m. EST to 5:30 p.m., giving the Sun Devils an additional three hours after their flight from Arizona to Florida was delayed.
Other teams went old school, at least for top-tier college football: Auburn opted to take a bus to Mississippi State with the SEC pushing back the Saturday start time by more than four hours to give the Tigers a buffer. Purdue boarded buses from West Lafayette, Indiana, for its game at Iowa.
Unbeaten Utah can continue its run toward the Big 12 championship game with a late-night win at Arizona (7-2), which puts Noah Fifita up against Devon Dampier in a duel of star quarterbacks.
Texas (7-2) will try to extend its win streak to four games and go 5-0 against Top 25 opponents at No. 24 LSU (6-3), which still has faint playoff hopes.
No. 11 Wake Forest (8-1) visits No. 25 SMU (7-1) in a meeting of Atlantic Coast Conference teams trying to reach the league championship game.
No. 15 Southern California (7-2) will try to build some late-season momentum when it visits No. 6 Indiana (8-1).
Louisville (6-3) visits North Carolina (5-4), where Bill Belichick's team has played better and needs just one win for bowl eligibility.
The Cardinals have won four straight and are right in the thick of the race for a spot in the ACC championship game. They need some help, though, because second-place Wake Forest is ahead of them by a game in the standings and own the head-to-head tiebreaker.
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