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Major sporting events across the United States slowly returned to normal on Saturday, following a nationwide grounding of all flights by the Federal Aviation Administration a day prior that disrupted travel plans for professional and college teams.
Most college football programs playing on Saturday travel the day before kickoff, and several matches were delayed by hours to give visiting squads extra time to land and prepare.
Second-ranked Utah’s fixture at 22nd-ranked Arizona was pushed back by three hours, as was Arizona State’s game at Central Florida. Other teams, including Auburn, chose charter buses. One way or another, most programs secured a solution.
There was, of course, a single major exception: 19th-ranked Mississippi’s game at Oklahoma will now compete directly with the NFL, with kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m. EST on Sunday.
The NFL benefited from its Sunday schedule, as teams usually travel the day before their matches. Friday's travel pause ultimately had the greatest impact on official Don Willard, who is set to referee two games on the same day.
Willard will officiate the Dolphins-Colts fixture at 1 p.m. EST before travelling 112 miles east for a Steelers-Bengals Sunday Night Football contest.
