The Ole Miss Rebels at Oklahoma Sooners football game that was set for Saturday has been rescheduled, according to an announcement from the SEC late Friday night.
Oklahoma was previously scheduled to host Ole Miss at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., on Saturday, November 14. However, the game was rescheduled due to travel issues caused by the FAA Ground Stop on Friday.
Oklahoma will now host Ole Miss one day later on Sunday, Nov. 15, according to the statement released by the league. The kickoff time has been set for 1:00pm ET / noon CT, and a new television network for the contest will be announced later.
Following the news of the postponement, Oklahoma Vice President an Director of Athletics Roger Denny issued a strong statement.
“We recognize the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the ground stoppage and understand the challenges they 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.”
Oklahoma is 5-4 overall so far this season and 3-3 in league play. With the Ole Miss game moved to Sunday, the Sooners will now have a short week before their next game on Saturday, Nov. 21 at home against Texas A&M (noon ET).
Meanwhile, Ole Miss (6-3, 4-3 SEC), is slated to host FCS Wofford next Saturday on a short week. That contest is also slated for noon ET and will be televised by SEC Network+.