FAA ground stop disrupts college football

Byrum Brown #17 of the Auburn Tigers looks to pass during the first half against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday in Starkville, Miss. The game was delayed because of the FAA ground stop on Friday. Justin Ford/Getty Images hide caption

Justin Ford/Getty Images

The Federal Aviation Administration's ground stop on Friday has led not only to travel headaches, but also schedule changes and delays in college sports.

Many college football teams were in airports Friday on their way to upcoming games when the nationwide ground stop was issued and thousands of flights were canceled. The FAA on Saturday said airports were returning to normal operations, but that delays and cancellations would continue through the day.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy acknowledged the ground stop's impact on college football. Several games on Saturday were delayed for hours.

"If you look at the cost of what happened yesterday, we're talking if you like football — I know we've had some disruptions to the college football schedule. Some games are being moved," Duffy said during a news conference Saturday. "That's not the most important thing, but we do want to move teams around the country so we can have playoffs happen."

Utah, ranked No. 2 in the College Football Playoff Rankings, will kick off against Arizona in Tucson at 8:30 p.m. local time — a three-hour delay. The Auburn vs. Mississippi State game was pushed back more than four hours to start at 3:15 p.m. local time in Mississippi because of the ground stop. The Florida Atlantic Owls were also unable to fly to Oklahoma on Friday ahead of their game against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Saturday's game, which was supposed to begin at 2:30 p.m. local time, was moved to 6:15 p.m. local time.

While other college teams were able to arrive at their destinations and proceed with games on Saturday, the University of Mississippi did not.

Ole Miss, ranked No. 19, was not able to fly to Oklahoma as planned on Friday for its matchup with the University of Oklahoma Sooners. The game between the two teams, which was scheduled to occur Saturday, will now take place on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, according to the Southeastern Conference. The game will compete with several NFL games that will be televised at the same time. NFL teams were largely unaffected by the ground stop.

In order to help alleviate fans' frustration, the Sooners on Saturday announced "fan appreciation" promotions for the rescheduled game. Oklahoma students can go to the game for free with their student ID and there will be reduced prices on concession items such as $2 for popcorn or a 16-ounce beer.