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Oklahoma Athletic Director Roger Denny Calls Ole Miss Game Delay “Not Fair”

Putri ArdhanaPublished 3m ago2 min readBased on 1 source
Oklahoma Athletic Director Roger Denny Calls Ole Miss Game Delay “Not Fair”
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Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny has publicly criticised a decision to move the Sooners' college football game against Ole Miss to Sunday, saying it is unfair to the school.

In an X post published after 1 a.m. ET, Denny wrote that the postponement “isn't fair to our athletes, our institution or to Sooner Nation,” according to Deadline. The game was originally set for Saturday at 4 p.m. ET at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. It is now scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

The reason is travel. Ole Miss could not leave Mississippi on Friday because of a ground stop, a temporary halt to flights ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration, the US agency that controls air traffic. The change was attributed to that shutdown.

Conference commissioner Greg Sankey told Oklahoma about the decision to play on Sunday. The school had strongly objected. Oklahoma was also told that if it does not play at the directed Sunday time, the game will be recorded as a forfeit, meaning a loss.

The ground stop reached well beyond one game. Several other college football matchups were shifted the same way:

  • Auburn vs. Mississippi State moved from 12 p.m. ET to 4:15 p.m. ET.
  • Washington vs. Michigan State moved from 4:15 p.m. ET to 5:30 p.m. ET.
  • Arizona State vs. UCF moved from 3:30 p.m. ET to 5:30 p.m. ET.
  • Baylor vs. BYU moved from 3:30 p.m. ET to 7 p.m. ET.
  • Utah vs. Arizona moved from 7:30 p.m. ET to 10:30 p.m. ET.

For Oklahoma fans, the change turns a Saturday afternoon into a Sunday one. Players, staff and travelling supporters now have a different day to plan around, and the Sooners' stance is that the move was imposed on them.

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