One of the larger effects of the FAA’s hours-long ground stop on Friday was the havoc it wrought on the weekend’s sports schedule, particularly in the world of college football.
Many games will be played later than planned on Saturday to accommodate the road team’s delayed travel schedule. An SEC clash between No. 14 Ole Miss and Oklahoma, however, got pushed all the way back to Sunday.
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Previously scheduled for 4:15 p.m. ET on Saturday, the Rebels-Sooners clash will now kick off at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, in the thick of the NFL slate. In its statement announcing the decision, the SEC said Ole Miss was unable to depart Oxford on Friday night and the team now can’t leave until Saturday afternoon.
The Oklahoma athletic department was, to put it mildly, not happy.
Immediately after the SEC announced the postponement, athletic director Roger Denny released a lengthy statement complaining about Ole Miss’ inability to travel Friday, “unlike every other team traveling for competition tomorrow,” and noting the effect the delay would have on the fans.
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Denny also revealed that SEC commissioner Greg Sankey threatened Oklahoma with a forfeit if it didn’t go along with the new schedule. The full statement can be read below.
No. 14 Ole Miss enters the game clinging to College Football Playoff hopes, while unranked Oklahoma is all but eliminated at 5-4.
Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny’s statement on Ole Miss postponement
We recognize the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the ground stoppage and understand the challenges it created for teams across the country. As soon as we learned of Ole Miss’ travel issues, we immediately began communicating with their staff and our conference leadership. We were told that Ole Miss explored every avenue to travel to Norman and play on Saturday as planned. But, unlike every other team traveling for competition tomorrow, they were unable to find a solution. After multiple conversations with the league office, Commissioner Sankey informed us of his decision to move our game to Sunday, over our strong objection. After continued discussions, he further informed us that our failure to play on Sunday at the directed time would result in a forfeit.
Rescheduling the game has a significant impact, particularly on our fans. Those who have made travel arrangements, accommodations, and personal plans around a Saturday game now face unnecessary disruption and hardship. heir time, commitment, and investment deserve greater consideration than they were afforded in the conference’s decision tonight.
I understand that difficult decisions sometimes must be made under extraordinary circumstances. But those decisions must also consider the impact on everyone involved. Put simply, this decision isn’t fair to our athletes, our institution, or to Sooner Nation. But we’ve been given no other choice. We are obligated to play the game when directed, but we remain steadfast in our belief that the wrong outcome was reached this evening.
We will continue to fight in the best interests of OU Athletics and always on behalf of our student-athletes and fans.
On Saturday, we will share more on game logistics and fan appreciation measures.
Boomer Sooner,
Roger
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
