FAA ground stop throws haymaker to Texas school's football plans

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The nationwide ground stop on Friday disrupted many travel plans, including college football teams traveling to or from Texas. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images) (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

Friday's nationwide ground stop not only threw a monkey wrench into everyday Americans' travel plans, but it also upended the sports world, namely college football.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the ground stop, only the third in history, because of what it called "extraordinary circumstances" caused by a communications issue at regional air traffic control centers. Officials said new technology added to the air traffic control system overloaded older equipment.

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More than 13,000 flights were delayed, and 4,000 were canceled during the ground stop, which was lifted around 7:15 p.m. CT, according to several reports.

The issue left dozens of college and pro sports teams scrambling to find hotels, reschedule flights, and, in some cases, travel by bus for multiple hours to reach their destinations.

Among those schools affected were Utah, Texas and Tennessee, who were left in a holding pattern as they were set to travel off campus for key matchups that could affect seeding in the College Football Playoff. Texas, for example, is preparing to take on LSU in Baton Rouge on Saturday, and the Volunteers were set to travel to College Station to face Texas A&M. 

Once the ground stop was lifted, both teams flew out late Friday night to reach their destinations. The Longhorns, who originally said they were "Bayou bound" at 2:48 p.m. on Friday, shared a social media video confirming they were officially headed to the Bayou at 10:28 p.m.

Still, various games involving Texas teams were rescheduled. Baylor's game at BYU was moved to a 6 p.m. CT kick to accommodate the Bears. Tulane, which was flying into Houston to play Rice on Saturday, opted to pile into five separate buses and made the 350-mile drive from New Orleans on Friday night. The game was moved back two hours and will kick off at 3:30 p.m.

One college program that took umbrage with the rescheduling? Texas' longtime rival Oklahoma. The Sooners' game versus Ole Miss wasn't just moved from a Saturday afternoon kickoff to a Saturday night kickoff; it was moved to Sunday afternoon after Ole Miss told OU it couldn't leave on Friday.

"The Ole Miss football team was unable to depart Oxford Friday night due to the FAA ground stoppage," the SEC said in a statement accompanying the announcement. "After the stoppage was lifted, a late-night departure could not be accommodated by the charter company with which Ole Miss was contracted and the team's departure has been delayed until Saturday afternoon."

Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny said he contacted Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey about the ordeal. Still, Sankey countered that if Oklahoma failed to play on Sunday, it would forfeit the game.

"I understand that difficult decisions sometimes must be made under extraordinary circumstances," Denny said in a statement. "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."

The flight issues generated memories of when budget airline Spirit ceased operations in May, leaving several Texas-based programs that don't use charter flights to question what could come next. Many athletic directors and general managers across Texas colleges vocalized that even a small disruption, from bag fees to which airlines are operational, creates a scramble effect for all parties.

"It may not always be a headline issue," Prairie View football general manager Christopher "Cruize" Williams told Chron at the time. "It is absolutely something that affects football operations behind the scenes."

This article originally published at FAA ground stop throws haymaker to Texas school's football plans.

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