FAA ground stop causes travel issues for Ole Miss trying to get to Oklahoma to play Sooners

Houston, we have a problem.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a rare nationwide ground stop for all departing U.S. flights on Friday afternoon and halted all flights for about four hours. That caused travel issues for multiple college football teams trying to take to the skies to reach their weekend playing destination, including Ole Miss, which is scheduled to play Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon in Norman.

The ground stop was finally lifted just before 7:30 p.m. CT, but the fallout throughout college football is just now beginning.

Ole Miss was among a number of teams that were stuck in limbo on Friday. CBS Sports senior national college football reporter Brandon Marcello reported at 8:20 p.m. that the Rebels will not leave Oxford on Friday night. Instead, Ole Miss will travel the day of the game before a 3:15 p.m. kickoff.

“We are continuing to work through our options and coordinate with the appropriate groups regarding both travel and the game,” an Ole Miss spokesperson told CBS Sports.

Ole Miss will not fly to Oklahoma tonight.
“We are continuing to work through our options and coordinate with the appropriate groups regarding both travel and the game,” an Ole Miss spokesperson tells @CBSSports. https://t.co/2BCYZFBRga
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) November 14, 2026

Ole Miss’ statement makes it sound as if Saturday’s game in Norman still isn’t set in stone, or at least the start time might not be. Either the programs or SEC will make an announcement if the kickoff for OU-Ole Miss does ultimately get delayed.

This ultimately falls on the Rebels, though, as other teams quickly took off Friday night once they were cleared.

Chase Parham, who covers Ole Miss for 247Sports and CBS Sports, had also reported earlier that the Rebels had no plans to bus all the way to Norman. It would be about an eight-hour bus ride from Oxford to Norman, and multiple other teams loaded a bus to ensure they got where they needed to be. Had the Rebels hit the road instead of going back home, they could have been in Norman by midnight.

College football travel disrupted by FAA stoppage

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy confirmed the stoppage on Friday. According to Duffy, the FAA “issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue.”

The @FAAnews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) November 13, 2026

Ironically, Duffy’s update came almost exactly 24 hours before the Sooners and Rebels are scheduled to kick off from Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium at 3:15 p.m. CT.

The FAA later updated with a post at 4:02 p.m. stating: “There has been a temporary telecommunications outage – out of an abundance of caution all flights have been halted. Every flight has been accounted for and international flights will be handled on a case by case basis.”

There has been a temporary telecommunications outage – out of an abundance of caution all flights have been halted. Every flight has been accounted for and international flights will be handled on a case by case basis.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) November 13, 2026

This is only the third time in U.S. history that the FAA has ordered a nationwide departure ground stop. The first time was on Sept. 11, 2001. The next time was more recently, in January 2023, because of a computer system malfunction. The most recent delay lasted just over an hour, so this one was much longer and will have even more repercussions.

We will update Ole Miss’ travel status as more is reported or if there are any game delays.