The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday afternoon immediately and indefinitely grounded all air travel across American skies “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” It is the third time in our nation's history the order has been given.
The first was after the September 11 attacks, and the second was in 2023, when the FAA paused all domestic departures for two hours.
At press time, it's not currently known how long this nationwide grounding will last -- and the clock is ticking ahead of the college football weekend. "FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tweeted Friday.
The @FAAnews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) November 13, 2026
Utah, Texas, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Arizona State, Washington, Oregon State, and North Texas had all yet to take flight, according to reporting by other outlets and FootballScoop sources. Alabama (at Vanderbilt), Auburn (at Mississippi State) and Clemson (at Georgia Tech) have already made decisions to bus to their respective destinations, and other programs are undoubtedly doing the same.
Teams in flight limbo:
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 13, 2026
Big 12: Baylor, Kansas State, Utah and Arizona State
SEC: Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas
ACC: All visiting teams on the ground.
Big Ten: Minnesota, Purdue and Washington
ALSO confirmed in limbo -- Oregon State, Wyoming and North Texas. https://t.co/90SdwxZvmW
Of course, getting there is only half the battle.
Florida State (at Pittsburgh), Illinois (at UCLA), and Houston (at Colorado) are all playing Friday night games as scheduled, but each are faced with the prospect of cross-country bus trips home if the issue is not resolved quickly.
Other teams making cross-country trips this weekend in FBS:
-- Wake Forest (at SMU)
-- Nebraska (at Rutgers)
-- UAB (at Temple)
-- Kennesaw State (at Sam Houston)
-- New Mexico State (at Missouri State)
-- FIU (at Delaware)
-- Boston College (at Notre Dame)
-- USC (at Indiana)
-- Baylor (at BYU)
-- Michigan (at Oregon)
-- Cal (at Virginia)
-- FAU (at Tulsa)
-- Nevada (at Northern Illinois)
-- Fresno State (at Texas State)
-- Washington (at Michigan State)
-- Kansas (at West Virginia)
-- Stanford (at Virginia Tech)
-- North Dakota State (at Hawaii)
We'll update this post as more news comes in.