Ground Stop Moves Seven Saturday Kickoffs Across College Football

The FAA lifted its nationwide ground stop on Friday night, November 13, after nearly four hours, but the college football schedule it scrambled didn't snap back. Seven Saturday games carry new kickoff times, at least 13 teams spent Friday in travel limbo, and one game — Ole Miss at Oklahoma — still doesn't have a visiting team in town. The SEC said Friday evening that it's working with its schools to assess the disruption, and ESPN and ABC said they're prepared to produce every game on their Saturday slate.

The biggest moves came in the Big 12 and the SEC. Arizona State at UCF slid from 3:30 p.m. ET to 5:30 p.m. ET and from ESPN2 to ESPNU. Auburn at Mississippi State moved from noon ET to 4:15 p.m. ET after Auburn's plane never left and the Tigers made the trip to Starkville by bus. Baylor at BYU shifted from 3:30 p.m. ET to 7:00 p.m. ET on FOX, and Utah at Arizona from 7:30 p.m. ET to 10:30 p.m. ET on FOX. Kansas at West Virginia moved the other way, from 5:30 p.m. ET up to 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

Two American Conference games moved as well: Tulane at Rice from 2:00 p.m. ET to 4:30 p.m. ET, and Florida Atlantic at Tulsa from 3:30 p.m. ET to 7:15 p.m. ET. Florida Atlantic's team was sent back to campus on Friday evening after its flight couldn't depart, and the Owls travel on Saturday instead.

Ole Miss holds the weekend's hardest itinerary. The Rebels sat on the tarmac Friday, were sent home, and won't fly to Norman on Friday night at all. They'll try to fly on Saturday morning for their afternoon game at Oklahoma, and a Sunday game was raised as a fallback, though the SEC hasn't offered any option to move the game off Saturday. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Tulsa all play at home this weekend, and Texas Tech reached Stillwater before the stop, so its game at Oklahoma State runs as scheduled.

ESPN's Pete Thamel reported Friday that Baylor, Kansas State, Utah, Arizona State, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas were among the Power Four teams in limbo, with Oregon State, Wyoming and North Texas also confirmed. Tennessee plans to fly late Friday night for its 3:00 p.m. ET game at Texas A&M, which the Aggies said is expected to go ahead as scheduled, and Texas plans to fly Saturday to Baton Rouge for its 7:30 p.m. ET game at LSU. Kansas State, Baylor, Arizona State and Utah hold tentative Saturday-morning travel plans, and Washington is resuming its trip to Michigan State on Friday night with no change to its kickoff announced.

The disruption doesn't end with the teams. Thamel also flagged a shortage of officials as a possible knock-on problem for Saturday, since officiating crews fly commercial routes the same way teams do. Nobody has lost a game yet. What Saturday lost is its shape: seven kickoffs moved, one visiting team flying in on the morning it plays, and a bus ride standing in for a charter in the SEC.