FAA ground stop strands Texas, Tennessee and Ole Miss; Auburn at Mississippi State kickoff moved

Three SEC road teams were still on the ground Friday afternoon when the Federal Aviation Administration stopped every flight in the country. ESPN reported that Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas had not yet left for Saturday's games. The FAA said the order followed a communications failure at the regional air traffic control centers. It was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023.

The order was lifted Friday night, but the trips that followed were uneven. CBS Sports reported that Tennessee planned to fly to College Station that night. Texas had been on the tarmac when the stop came, so the Longhorns went back to their facility and kept their usual Friday schedule of meetings and dinner. They then headed back to the airport for Baton Rouge. Ole Miss had not reached the airport before the stop and said it would not fly Friday night. According to USA Today, the Rebels were trying to get to Norman on Saturday morning, and the Oklahoma game had not been moved.

Auburn gave up on flying after its Starkville flight was delayed and took buses instead. USA Today reported that the game against Mississippi State was pushed from noon to 4:15 p.m. ET. Georgia was the home team, but it had a different problem. Kirby Smart told ESPN that his assistants were out recruiting and needed to get back to Athens. Missouri had already arrived. He also raised the question of how officials would reach their games. "Maybe if we actually had regional conferences, we could just drive to the games," Smart said.

What it means for Saturday

The biggest test may be in Baton Rouge, where No. 6 Texas (7-2) plays No. 21 LSU (6-3) at 7:30 p.m. ET. Texas comes in with three straight wins, including a 34-20 win at Missouri. LSU lost its last game 31-13 to Alabama. LSU is favored at -174 on Novig and by 4.5 points. Texas is +170 there, and the best price on the Longhorns anywhere is Pinnacle's +173. Across the 12 venues on our board, sportsbook hold runs from 3.2% to 6.9%.

Tennessee (7-2) faces Texas A&M (4-5) at 3 p.m. ET after a late Friday flight. The Vols beat Kentucky 34-6 last week. The Aggies have lost two straight and have not scored more than 20 points in either game. Tennessee is barely favored, at -108 on Novig and -107 at Pinnacle, the best price on the board. The spread is 1.5 points.

Ole Miss (6-3) has the shortest turnaround. It will arrive the morning of the game after a 42-7 loss to Georgia. Oklahoma is favored at -133 on Novig, and Hard Rock Bet's -130 is the best price on the Sooners. Auburn (5-4) arrives by bus but is still favored at Mississippi State, at -138 on Novig and -135 at DraftKings. The Bulldogs (4-5) have lost five straight. Georgia (8-1) is favored over Missouri at -669 on Novig and by 16.5 points. On every SEC game listed here, the moneyline prices across venues are within a few cents of each other. That suggests the market had not reacted much to the travel problems as of these prices.