Reality sucks sometimes.
No matter what decision was made in the middle of the night, someone wasn’t going to be happy.
So, when the SEC announced that Ole Miss’ game against Oklahoma had been pushed back from Saturday to Sunday, it wasn’t surprising to see the Sooners’ side upset.
GAME UPDATE:
The @OleMissFB at @OU_Football game has been moved to Sunday, Nov. 15 at 1 PM ET / Noon CT due to travel issues related to Friday’s nationwide FAA ground stoppage.
Television network is TBA.#SECFB pic.twitter.com/2B63eTmoTA
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) November 14, 2026
Oklahoma athletics director Roger Denny certainly made his feelings known.
“After multiple conversations with the league office, Commissioner [Greg] Sankey informed us of his decision to move our game to Sunday, over our strong objection,” Denny said in a statement early Saturday morning.
He also said Oklahoma was informed that refusing to play Sunday would result in a forfeit.
“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.”
— Roger Denny (@Oklahoma_AD) November 14, 2026
There’s nothing wrong with Denny being frustrated. There’s nothing wrong with him standing up for Oklahoma’s athletes and fans, either.
The problem is that his definition of “everyone involved” apparently doesn’t include Ole Miss.
Denny devoted a good portion of his statement to the inconvenience Oklahoma fans will experience because of the schedule change. He mentioned travel arrangements, hotel accommodations and personal plans being disrupted.
Those are legitimate concerns. But does he think Ole Miss fans aren’t dealing with the exact same problems?
If anything, the Rebels’ traveling fans could have it worse.
It’s reasonable to assume a much larger percentage of Oklahoma fans attending the game live close enough to Norman that they won’t need a hotel room. Ole Miss fans don’t have that luxury. They’re traveling hundreds of miles to watch their team play.
Now those fans must decide whether to extend their hotel stays, change their travel arrangements or miss the game entirely.
What about the players?
Oklahoma gets to spend Saturday at home preparing for Sunday’s noon kickoff. Ole Miss doesn’t.
According to CBS Sports, the earliest replacement charter Ole Miss could secure after Friday’s nationwide FAA ground stop was Saturday at 4:20 p.m., more than an hour after the originally scheduled kickoff.
The Rebels will spend a significant portion of Saturday traveling, checking into a hotel and trying to squeeze in whatever final preparations they can manage.
Oklahoma, meanwhile, has the benefit of its own facilities, meeting rooms and normal surroundings.
That’s not exactly an equal arrangement.
Ole Miss didn’t create those problems. Neither did Oklahoma. Neither did the SEC.
Several other programs were affected. Auburn had to abandon its flight plans and take a bus to Starkville. Texas and Tennessee also had their travel schedules disrupted.
Ole Miss just happened to be the one program that couldn’t find a workable solution to play Saturday.
Finally, all my interests have converged!
While I agree that this is being handled poorly by the SEC, it is largely out of the hands of Ole Miss. The Ole Miss charter situation is a bit different than that of most other programs.
Ole Miss charters via JetBlue operating out of… https://t.co/ATwtOyq9vr
— Matt Burnell (@mdburnell) November 14, 2026
What exactly was the SEC supposed to do?
Force Ole Miss to play a football game in Norman when its players and coaches couldn’t get there in time?
Cancel the game altogether?
Denny is entitled to believe the SEC made the wrong decision. He’s entitled to complain about the consequences for Oklahoma.
But if we’re going to talk about fairness, let’s actually consider everyone involved.
Ole Miss didn’t ask for a nationwide aviation shutdown. Its players didn’t ask to lose their normal Friday travel routine or spend Saturday getting to a game that was supposed to have already kicked off.
And Ole Miss fans certainly didn’t ask to rearrange their weekends any more than Oklahoma fans did.
There’s no perfect solution to a situation that nobody created and nobody wanted.
That’s where Denny’s statement goes askew. He’s treating an unfortunate situation affecting both programs as though Oklahoma was singled out for unfair treatment.
It wasn’t.
The situation is unfair to everybody. Oklahoma just happens to be the one complaining the loudest.
