The FAA ground stop that was issued on Friday afternoon is obviously having an effect on travel across the country, but it’s also having a major impact on teams scheduled to play on Saturday.
The second nationwide ground stop since 9/11 could disrupt travel over the next few days as passengers wait for to allow flights to resume ahead of a busy travel weekend.
But concern is growing across college athletics for teams that have yet to depart for Saturdays games.
According to multiple sources, some of those schools who are currently looking for alternative travel include Texas, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Washington, Minnesota, Baylor, Tulane, Auburn, Arizona State, Oregon State and others.
USC has already taken off for their trip to Bloomington for a showdown with Indiana, and are currently in the air.
For instance, Texas was scheduled to depart Austin and had already boarded its plane for Baton Rouge ahead of Saturday’s showdown against , but the FAA had issued the ground stop before they had taken off for Louisiana.
In the case of a school like Tennessee, the Vols were scheduled to depart McGee Tyson Airport in Knoxville at 4 p.m. ET, but the FAA notice was issued, and the team was not able to get into the air. How they end up getting to College Station is still to be determined at this moment, though the situation remains fluid.
Other schools across the country were lucky under the circumstances, and had already departed for their road game destination.
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Some schools also had the luxury to take buses to their game, like Alabama traveling to Nashville for its game against Vanderbilt.
This could turn out to be the case for a team like Auburn, who is scheduled to play Mississippi State on Saturday in Starkville.
But, for No. 2 Utah, the Utes were grounded in Salt Lake City before they were scheduled to take off for their matchup with Arizona on Saturday night.
Schools typically travel on Friday afternoons for Saturday games, usually holding a walkthrough at their facility before heading straight to the airport for departure.
Also, most schools will have security checkpoints actually set up at their facilities, so they can just get off the bus and board the airplane that is taking them to their destination.
This is a developing story, and we will continue to provide updates here at and Fox News.
