The Oklahoma Sooners are not playing on Saturday. Their home game against the Ole Miss Rebels has been moved to Sunday, after the FAA shut down air travel Friday afternoon and created chaos across college football.

Many teams couldn’t leave their airports when they normally would have. That caused plenty of confusion. However, I could be wrong, but it appears the only game truly affected is Oklahoma vs. Ole Miss. Yes, college football will go head-to-head with the NFL this weekend.

How Oklahoma vs. Ole Miss ended up on Sunday

You might be asking how this happened. Oklahoma is hosting this week, so the Sooners didn’t have to go anywhere. Ole Miss did. Once the FAA restriction was lifted, Ole Miss decided not to fly and wanted to play on Sunday. Every other team in the country traveled to its game, whether by plane or by bus. Oklahoma didn’t want the game moved. Now, the Sooners are forced to play on Sunday, even though it’s their venue and Ole Miss could have made the trip.

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Oklahoma and Ole Miss will play at noon CT Sunday in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny released a lengthy statement and made it clear where the program stands. Denny said the game was moved “despite our strong objection.”

He didn’t stop there. “Put simply, this decision isn’t fair to our athletes, our institution, or to Sooner Nation,” Denny said.

Does anything need to be said here? Denny is right. And the statement gets deeper.

Oklahoma Athletic Director Roger Denny’s full statement

“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. Their 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.”

The schedule makes this even worse for the Sooners

Next week, Ole Miss plays Wofford. Oklahoma plays Texas A&M. Moving this game to Sunday means the Sooners will be preparing for the Aggies on a short week. That is one less day to prepare and one less day to recover, and that means the world in football. Recovery time matters even more late in the season, when bodies are worn down and every rep in practice counts.

Meanwhile, Ole Miss gets the same short week, but against an opponent it can likely handle with its third-string players. The Rebels can afford to lose a day. Oklahoma, facing an SEC opponent with plenty at stake, can’t.

So, the team that chose not to travel takes on far less of the fallout than the team that was ready to play at home on Saturday. That is why Denny’s frustration lands, and why the Sooners have every reason to feel slighted.

Expect some heat on Sunday

This whole situation is messy. There will be plenty of heat and animosity between these two teams when they finally kick off. Oklahoma fans will feel it in the stands, and I’d be surprised if the players don’t feel it on the field too. It’s also going to feel strange watching college football on a Sunday afternoon. I have to admit that one will take some getting used to.

What happened over the last 24 hours is not something we have really seen before. Weather delays and postponements happen, but a team choosing not to travel once flights were cleared is a different story. It also felt like something that could have been avoided. Either way, the Sooners now have to block out the noise, take care of business against Ole Miss on Sunday, and turn around quickly for Texas A&M.