Arizona State Flies on Game Day After Ground Stop

Arizona State will fly to Orlando on the morning of its game after the Federal Aviation Administration's nationwide ground stop kept the Sun Devils in Phoenix on Friday, November 13. UCF Athletics said in an 8:15 p.m. update Friday that Saturday's game at Acrisure Bounce House remains scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff. The Big 12 Conference is evaluating whether a later kickoff is necessary.

The Sun Devils were scheduled to leave Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport at 2 p.m. local time on Friday for Orlando. The FAA ordered the nationwide stop at 3:54 p.m. ET, citing extraordinary circumstances and safety concerns tied to an air traffic control communications issue, and it held departing flights across the country for more than four hours. Arizona State's team left the plane and stayed in Tempe on Friday night.

The Big 12's statement, issued Friday evening, is the governing document for Saturday: due to the national FAA ground stop impacting team travel, the conference is evaluating potential changes to Saturday's football schedule, and it will keep monitoring the disruptions with its schools. UCF said it remains in close communication with the Big 12 and Arizona State. Utah's departure was also delayed; the Utes play at Arizona in Tucson on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. local time.

The trip itself is the hardship. Arizona State's flight to Orlando runs about four hours and 15 minutes and covers roughly 1,850 air miles, the program's second-longest road trip inside the continental United States, behind only a 1997 trip to Miami. A Saturday-morning departure gives back three hours to the time change, which puts the team in Orlando hours, not a day, before kickoff. Head coach Kenny Dillingham said Friday afternoon that he had no idea what was happening as the team left the airport.

Both teams carry the same record into the game, which is why the schedule matters beyond one charter. Arizona State is 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the Big 12 after a 20-10 win over Colorado. UCF is also 5-4 and 3-3, after a 33-32 win at Kansas on the final play. It's Arizona State's first road meeting with UCF and its first game in Orlando in program history; the Sun Devils lead the series 2-0, with both wins in Tempe.

Arizona State isn't the only program the stop caught. Reporting on Friday put at least 10 Power 4 programs in travel limbo, including Utah, Texas, Tennessee and Ole Miss, and BYU's trip to Baylor drew the same conference statement. The SEC said it was monitoring the stop's effect on Saturday's games as well. The stop was lifted at about 8:15 p.m. ET Friday, but by then the charters that needed daylight on Friday had already lost it.

Saturday's question is narrow and practical: a team that flies four hours on game day, lands in a later time zone and kicks off at 3:30 p.m. is playing a different game from the one it prepared for. The Big 12's next update decides whether that game starts on time. Until it comes, the 3:30 p.m. kickoff stands, and the Sun Devils' Saturday starts at an airport in Phoenix.