Sports · American Football · 1 hr ago
Ole Miss-Oklahoma game moved to Sunday after travel delays
Ole Miss could not reach Oklahoma in time for their football game, which was scheduled for Saturday.
A nationwide FAA groundstop halted air travel for more than four hours on Friday.
After it ended, Ole Miss’s charter could not depart because its crew was nearing its work-time limit, and no replacement crew was available at Tupelo’s small airport.
The team did not leave until Saturday afternoon.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey moved the game to Sunday, and Oklahoma was told it would forfeit if it did not play at the directed time.
Oklahoma strongly objected, saying the change was unfair to its players, school and fans.
The game is set for Sunday at 1 p.m.
ET in Norman, Oklahoma, on the SEC Network.
The Ole Miss-Oklahoma game was moved from Saturday to Sunday after travel delays prevented Ole Miss from reaching Norman in time.
The rescheduled game is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, or noon CT, on the SEC Network.
Ole Miss said it could not depart until 4:20 p.m. CT Saturday because its charter crew’s duty-time restrictions prevented an earlier flight.
Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny objected to the move, questioning Ole Miss’s efforts and saying the decision unfairly burdened the Sooners.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s nationwide groundstop on Friday added to the travel disruption.
- Who
- Ole Miss and Oklahoma.
- What
- Their football game was moved from Saturday to Sunday after Ole Miss could not travel to Oklahoma in time.
- When
- The game is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
- Where
- Norman, Oklahoma.
- Why
- Ole Miss said travel delays and flight-crew duty-time restrictions prevented it from departing until Saturday afternoon.
Oklahoma
Ole Miss and the SEC
Reason for moving the game
Oklahoma
Oklahoma’s Roger Denny questioned whether Ole Miss made sufficient efforts to reach Norman and argued the Sunday move was unfair to Oklahoma.
Ole Miss and the SEC
Ole Miss said travel logistics and flight-crew duty-time restrictions prevented it from flying earlier; the SEC moved the game to Sunday.
Saturday option
Oklahoma
Denny said Oklahoma was open to playing Saturday night and argued the game could have been scheduled then.
Ole Miss and the SEC
Ole Miss said there were no other flight options and that an eight-hour-or-longer bus trip was too late an alternative.
The FAA issued a nationwide groundstop.
The FAA lifted the groundstop after more than four hours.
Ole Miss departed for Oklahoma, according to the report.
The rescheduled game is set to kick off.
- Original kickoff
- 4:15 p.m. Saturday
- Rescheduled kickoff
- 1 p.m. Sunday ET
- Ole Miss departure
- 4:20 p.m. CT Saturday
- Groundstop duration
- More than four hours
- Destination airport
- Oklahoma City
- Broadcast
- SEC Network
2 sources
What people are saying
It's inexplicable
Put simply, this decision isn't fair to our athletes, our institution or to Sooner Nation.
Like the rest of the nation, we faced unprecedented challenges with Friday's ground stoppage