Ole Miss Flight Grounded by FAA Shutdown, Casting Doubt on Saturday's Game at Oklahoma

The sky has literally closed down on college football. Ole Miss is stuck in Mississippi, less than 24 hours away from the scheduled kickoff time of Saturday's game at Oklahoma.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday afternoon issued a rare nationwide ground stop for all departing flights within the U.S. air space after a major telecommunications issue began to affect all of the Air Route Traffic Control Centers around 3:00 p.m. CT. This is only the third time in history that a nationwide departure ground stop has been issued.

The Rebels were on the tarmac ready to depart for Norman, Okla. Then they ordered to unload, return home, and return to the facility at 8:30 p.m. CT, after the initial freeze on flights had passed.

Right now, Saturday’s 3:15 p.m. CT kickoff at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium is squarely in limbo.

According to reports, the Rebels are attempting to fly out of Tupelo, which is about 50 miles from Oxford. Should the FAA clear airspace in the late evening, Ole Miss could be on its way to Norman for Saturday’s 3:15 p.m. kickoff at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. If the telecommunications outage continues into the late evening hours, however, it is likely that the game would be delayed until Sunday.

While charter buses are an option for teams in a pinch, the 550 mile drive from Oxford, Mississippi to Norman, Oklahoma would take approximately 8 hours and 15 minutes to travel straight west on I-40. Parham reports that Ole Miss is not planning on busing the team to Norman while they await FAA updates on the telecommunications outage.

The SEC released a short statement on Friday night, stating that the conference is in contact with its member schools and is monitoring the situation. If the game is moved to Sunday, it would be Oklahoma’s first Sunday game of the season, and first since the 2019 season-opening game against Houston at Owen Field.

The game is crucial for Oklahoma as the Sooners are trying to build off of their road win at Florida under interim offensive coordinator Jason Witten. The Sooners are currently 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the SEC. Oklahoma is also trying to make a bowl game for the 28th consecutive year and end a 3-0 series against Ole Miss.

OU remains in contact with Ole Miss and the SEC on this ongoing matter. This is a developing story.