OFFICIAL: Oklahoma vs. Ole Miss Pushed to Sunday Noon Kickoff After FAA Travel Chaos

NORMAN, Okla. — Cancel your Sunday plans, grab some coffee and be ready for maximum logistical chaos on Saturday football in Norman for the week.

On a chaotic Friday afternoon that saw a nationwide Federal Aviation Administration ground stop strand college football programs across the country, Oklahoma’s high-stakes Week 11 showdown against No. 19 Ole Miss has officially been pushed to Sunday.

According to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, the game is scheduled to kick off at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium at a brutal Noon CT on Sunday.

While adjusting for public health and safety is necessary when national transit is brought to a standstill, the logistical nightmare that is a game day change is not something fans need to endure.

Let’s be real. Moving a college football game to Sunday at noon is a big middle finger to local traditions, regional culture, and basic scheduling sanity. Sunday morning is sacred territory for many in Oklahoma. It is when many of the state’s residents go to church with their families and friends. Many of the thousands of season-ticket holders and local fans who had planned on attending the game will be forced to make a difficult choice between their weekly spiritual and family commitments and rushing back across the state to attend the game.

Another issue is the Sunday noon slot for college football games. The NFL already plays on Sunday and now the Sooners will have to fight for attention on national television, as well as on TV stations and radio stations around the country, for airtime and for the attention of fans of college football.

The decision to move the game to Sunday was made after Ole Miss’s travel logistics went up in smoke on Friday afternoon in Oxford. While the FAA ground stop that was issued around 3:00 p.m. CT on Friday was due to a telecommunications issue that affected Air Route Traffic Control Centers across the country, airspace was not completely reopened until later Friday night. By that time, the Rebels were unable to take off on Saturday for the 3:15 p.m. CT kickoff.

The charter availability and pilot duty-time limitations for the Ole Miss team would have prevented them from leaving Oxford after 4:00 p.m. CT on Saturday. The 550-mile drive down I-40 from Mississippi to central Oklahoma would have taken 8 hours or more, and charter buses were never seriously considered as an option for the team. Pushing the game back to Sunday was the only option for the SEC.

As other SEC programs such as Tennessee and Auburn attempted to salvage Saturday time slots, with Auburn and Mississippi State ultimately pushing their games back a few hours to Saturday night, the Rebels’ flight difficulties were too great to overcome. Thus, Oklahoma will play its first Sunday game of the season on Sunday, November 11th against Ole Miss, with kickoff scheduled for noon CT. The game will be the Sooners’ first Sunday game since they opened the 2019 season against Houston at Owen Field.

Brent Venables and his staff will have 20 more hours to prepare for the Sooners’ (5-4, 3-3 SEC) first bowl eligible season in 28 years, coming off a physical, road win over the Florida Gators under interim offensive coordinator Jason Witten, and looking to pick up their first win against Ole Miss (0-3) in four tries.

If you had tickets for Saturday afternoon’s game against Ole Miss, you’re going to be in for a great game at the Palace on the Prairie, but it’s going to be a stressful time of the year for fans.