FAA ground stop leaves Tennessee, Ole Miss and Washington stuck before Saturday road games

The FAA stopped every departing flight in the country at 3:54 p.m. ET Friday, and a long list of college football teams were still on the ground with road games to play Saturday. ESPN counted 10 Power 4 teams whose travel was disrupted, including Tennessee, Ole Miss, Washington, Minnesota, Utah, Baylor, Kansas State and Arizona State.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the stop followed a communication issue affecting all of the FAA's Air Route Traffic Control Centers. The FAA later called it a temporary telecommunications outage and said every flight had been accounted for.

Who is stuck and who is moving

Tennessee had been scheduled to leave McGhee Tyson Airport at 4 p.m. for College Station, per CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated. The Vols play at Texas A&M at 3 p.m. ET Saturday. Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter confirmed the Rebels' plane to Oklahoma could not leave, according to the Clarion-Ledger via SI.

Washington never boarded. "The team had not yet boarded its plane before the FAA grounded all flights. We await word, just like the rest of the country," Washington spokesman Jeff Bechthold said. The Huskies play at Michigan State at 4:15 p.m. ET.

Purdue had already boarded at 3:15 p.m. for a 3:45 takeoff, per the Indianapolis Star. The Boilermakers got off the plane and are taking five buses on a drive of about five hours to Iowa City for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff at Iowa. Auburn is busing to Mississippi State and North Texas to UTSA, per ESPN and CBS Sports.

Some teams beat the clock. USC posted photos of its team boarding at 2:29 p.m. ET and was in the air before the order, and the ACC told ESPN all of its visiting teams had reached their destinations. Oregon State had not left for its game at Boise State, per ESPN and The Athletic.

What to watch

It is the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, per ESPN. At 6:22 p.m. ET, the FAA's national airspace status page no longer listed a nationwide stop, but departures at Chicago O'Hare and Houston Bush showed equipment delays of roughly two and a half to three hours.

That means late arrivals and shorter walkthroughs for teams that fly Friday afternoon. ESPN also flagged officiating crews, who usually fly in the day before. No Saturday kickoff had been moved in the reports we checked. Watch No. 2 Utah at Arizona (7:30 p.m. ET) and Tennessee at Texas A&M (3 p.m. ET), two ranked teams whose Friday trips were held up.