A nationwide ground stop issued by the FAA due to a telecommunications outage is disrupting college football travel for several teams scheduled to play on Saturday, according to a November 13 report from the New York Post.
Several programs remain stranded at their home locations having not yet departed for their respective road games.
Among the teams impacted are No. 9 Tennessee and No. 8 Texas, both of whom have major SEC matchups on Saturday. The Tennessee Volunteers remain grounded in Knoxville ahead of their 3 p.m. ET game against Texas A&M in College Station on Saturday, according to Ryan Schumpert of On3. The team is expected to make a decision regarding travel plans later Friday night.
In Austin, the Texas Longhorns are also facing travel delays before their Saturday night matchup against No. 24 LSU in Baton Rouge, per Tyler Horka of Inside Texas.
Other teams facing lengthy travel disruptions include Arizona State, which is scheduled to play UCF in Orlando, and Washington, which is set to visit Michigan State in East Lansing. Additionally, Ole Miss, Baylor, Utah, Kansas State, Minnesota, Oregon State, and Wyoming have not yet flown to their destinations, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.
Some programs have opted for alternative transportation or have already arrived at their destinations. Purdue and Auburn have both chosen to travel by bus, according to reports from Thamel and On3.
Several teams avoided the disruption: No. 15 USC was already en route to Indiana when the ground stop began, while Michigan arrived in Eugene on Thursday to face Oregon. Missouri, scheduled to play Georgia in Athens, and Northwestern, scheduled to face Ohio State in Columbus, have both arrived at their destinations. All ACC teams arrived prior to the ground stop, according to Thamel.
The SEC issued a statement noting they are in close communication with member institutions to assess disruptions and coordinate responses. The conference stated that the safety and well-being of student-athletes, coaches, and team personnel is their highest priority and they will monitor developments to determine if adjustments to scheduled competitions are necessary.
The FAA is currently investigating the issue, though no timetable has been provided for when flights can resume. This is only the second nationwide ground stop since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, following a similar occurrence in January 2023 caused by a computer system failure.
It remains to be seen if any of the games scheduled for Saturday will require postponement or a change in kickoff times.
