The agency halted all US flights Friday citing a communications outage, leaving several Saturday road teams stuck waiting to fly.
The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights across the country Friday "until further notice," citing a temporary communications outage and unspecified safety concerns. The order landed at 3:54 p.m. ET and was initially set to last until 11:30 p.m., right in the middle of a full slate of college football travel.
The timing could not have been worse for teams flying to Saturday road games. The Big Ten confirmed Minnesota, Purdue, and Washington were affected, with Michigan set to play at Penn State, Purdue at Iowa, and Washington at Michigan State. The ACC said all its football teams had already reached their game sites before the stoppage hit.
Not everyone got clear. Arizona State's flight to Orlando for its game against UCF was delayed, as was Florida Atlantic's trip to Tulsa for its game in Oklahoma. Duke, however, beat the shutdown entirely, boarding its plane to Miami before the ground stop took effect, keeping its noon kickoff against the Hurricanes on schedule.
With no firm timeline for flights resuming at the time, programs across the country were left scrambling for alternate travel plans to make sure Week 11 kicks off on time.