Friday’s nationwide shutdown of the aviation system has resulted in a late start for some college football games on Saturday. One of them was moved to Sunday – and the home team is not happy.
Ole Miss’ visit to Oklahoma was moved from 4:15 PM ET on Saturday to 1:00 PM ET on Sunday.
“The Ole Miss football team could not leave Oxford on Friday evening due to the FAA ground ban,” the SEC said in a statement. “After the ban was lifted, a late-night departure could not be accommodated by the charter company with which Ole Miss contracted, and the team’s departure has been postponed until Saturday afternoon.”
Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny POWER opposed the decision to move the game to Sunday.
“After numerous conversations with the league office, commissioner (Greg) Sankey informed us of his decision to move our game to Sunday, due to our strong opposition,” Denny said. “He further informed us that our failure to play on Sunday at the scheduled time would result in a forfeit. I understand that difficult decisions sometimes have to be made in extraordinary circumstances. But those decisions must also consider the impact on everyone involved. Simply put, this decision is not fair to our athletes, our institution or the Sooner Nation.”
However, Oklahoma will abide by the decision. Even if the Sooners don’t like the decision to play the game later.
“The rescheduling of the game has a significant impact, especially on our fans,” Denny said. “Those who have made travel arrangements, accommodations and personal plans around a Saturday game are now faced with unnecessary disruption and hardship. Their time, commitment and investment deserve greater consideration than they have been given in tonight’s conference decision. . . . We are obligated to play the game when it is directed at us. But we remain steadfast in our misguided belief.”
On the one hand, there’s no point in huffing and puffing if Oklahoma wasn’t going to bring down the house after all. On the other hand, the school may have felt compelled to do something to avoid the disappointment of those who were not happy with the game moving to the next day.
The bottom line is that the ground stop created travel disruption and inconvenience for millions of people. And few are excited about it.
Oklahoma chose to appeal. If it makes them feel better, great. In the end, it doesn’t change the fact that the game will be added to the set of NFL games that start at the same time on Sunday afternoon.