A Day Late in Norman: Ole Miss Explains Its Travel Ordeal as the No. 19 Rebels and Oklahoma Finally Kick Off Sunday

Saturday came and went in Norman without a football game. On Sunday, at last, No. 19 Ole Miss and Oklahoma will play, with kickoff set for 1 p.m. Eastern, noon local time. Before the first snap, the Rebels made sure their side of the story was on the record.

It is the only game from Friday's nationwide flight stop that was pushed to Sunday. That decision has made a conference game into a weekend-long argument.

In a statement on Saturday, Ole Miss walked through what it called an unfortunate chain of events. The school said its charter broker, Air Planning, told it that JetBlue could not fly the team out on Friday night after the federal ground stop was lifted, On3 reported. The school said it looked into going by charter bus instead, but that would have meant roughly eight more hours on the road the night before an SEC game.

Ole Miss also pointed out that its situation was different from the other league teams traveling that weekend. According to the statement, those teams either had charter flights available Friday or could reach their games by bus in about four hours. The school said it regretted that the game had to move to Sunday but insisted it did everything it reasonably could to avoid it.

The Southeastern Conference gave the same basic explanation. The league said the late-night departure could not be handled by the charter company Ole Miss had a contract with.

That explanation has not changed many minds in Norman. Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny said commissioner Greg Sankey made the decision over the school's "strong objection," ESPN reported. Denny also said the SEC told Oklahoma that refusing to play on Sunday would mean forfeiting the game.

The Sooners' frustration is easy to understand. They gave up a home Saturday, a full game-day crowd and a normal weekly routine, all because of a problem with another school's travel plans. The Rebels, for their part, can fairly say they did not cause the ground stop and could not make a plane appear out of thin air.

Once the ball is kicked off, none of that will matter on the scoreboard. Ole Miss comes in at 6-3 overall and 4-3 in the SEC, ranked 19th in one poll and 17th in the other, while Oklahoma is 5-4 and 3-3 in league play, Yahoo Sports' game preview noted.

For the Rebels, the stakes are about the playoff. After a 42-7 loss to Georgia, Last Word on Sports put Ole Miss's chances of making the College Football Playoff at about 17 percent, rising to about 28 percent with a win in Norman. Oklahoma is effectively out of the playoff picture, by that same analysis, but a win would give the Sooners a sixth victory and make them bowl eligible.

Yahoo Sports called it a must-win game for Ole Miss against a retooled Oklahoma offense. Quarterback John Mateer has been playing his best football of the season lately, pregame previews noted: he has passed for 2,042 yards and 15 touchdowns through nine games and has gone three straight games without throwing an interception.

College football on a Sunday is rare, and it will feel strange to plenty of people in both fan bases. For many families in Mississippi and Oklahoma, Sunday morning belongs to church, and a noon local kickoff at least leaves room for the morning service before heading to the stadium or turning on the television.

The players have dealt with something harder: a lost day, a rebuilt travel plan, an extra night in a hotel and a game-week routine thrown out the window. How each team handles that may say as much about its character as anything in the playbook.

Nobody comes out of this weekend looking great, and nobody really did anything wrong, either. A communications breakdown grounded the country's airplanes on the busiest travel night of the college football week. Ole Miss had a contract that could not deliver, and the SEC had to choose between a Sunday game and no game at all. Oklahoma has every right to complain that it paid the price for someone else's travel problem.

But the fair thing now is the simple thing: play the game, shake hands, and let the result decide what the season means. For Ole Miss, a win keeps the playoff dream alive. For Oklahoma, it is a chance to make a point on its own field, a day late.