Ole Miss officials insist they couldn't do anything more to prevent the SEC from pushing their game at Oklahoma to Sunday because of the Rebels' travel woes.
After a 24-17 victory over the No. 19 Rebels at Memorial Stadium, the Sooners made sure their parting shots arrived on time.
From blasting B.O.B.'s "Airplane" and "Wheels on the Bus" songs throughout the stadium to showing the image of a "no smoking" sign from an airplane on the scoreboard, the Sooners let the Rebels not-so-subtly know that they aren't buying their explanation.
Much of the rain-soaked crowd booed the Rebels as they took the field.
"They were loud, engaged and pissed," said Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, who opened his post-game news conference with "Victory Sunday." "Helped us win the game today."
The Ole Miss-Oklahoma game was pushed back a day after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop on Friday, which disrupted travel for college football teams around the country. Transportation officials cited "extraordinary circumstances" caused by communications issues at regional air traffic control centers for the stoppage.
Oklahoma athletics director Roger Denny opposed the SEC's decision to postpone the game, calling it an "inexplicable" situation that "unfairly burdens" the Sooners.
Ole Miss officials said they did everything they could to try to travel on Friday but were informed by their charter broker that JetBlue could not fly the team to Norman, Oklahoma, on Friday night.
The delay didn't seem to bother the Sooners on Sunday. Oklahoma took an early 14-0 lead on quarterback John Mateer's eight-yard touchdown run and receiver Isaiah Satenga III's 75-yard punt return for a score.
The Sooners took a 21-7 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Rebels got as close as 24-17 on Lucas Carneiro's 41-yard field goal in the final minute.
Then the Rebels recovered an onside kick and reached the OU 29. But quarterback Trinidad Chambliss' pass into the end zone was knocked down on the final play.
"It's been weird, for sure, but our guys never blinked," Chambliss said after the game. "We stayed locked in; we stayed focused. We had a lot of walk-throughs, a lot of meetings. We just came mentally prepared for the game because we knew we were going to play a game, whether it was today, yesterday or even next week."
Venables said OU didn't tell its players that the game was being postponed until around 12:30 a.m. ET on Sunday. The Sooners reconvened after breakfast on Saturday, stretched in the weight room and then went to the stadium in rain cleats to prepare for the wet weather. They had walk-throughs in the indoor facility before he released the players for a few hours to visit with their families.
"I'm disappointed that we were forced to not [have] the impact of having everybody here in the stadium," Venables said. "All the logistics that go into that, and just kind of knocked off our routine for the players and certainly for the fans. It's not really fair to them. And then obviously, there's a cause and effect for everything. Now, we've to play Texas A&M on a short week with an early kick."
The SEC announced Sunday that the Sooners' home finale against the Aggies next week will kick off at 3:45 p.m. ET. It was originally scheduled for 12 p.m. ET.
"I'm glad that we were able to get a couple of more hours," Venables said. "That matters in a short week. I'll take every minute we can get."
Ole Miss coach Pete Golding told reporters on Sunday that the travel delay was an inconvenience for his team.
"I promise you, nobody was more frustrated than our team," Golding said.
Golding said his players arrived at the Manning Center in Oxford, Mississippi, at 8:45 a.m. ET on Friday and sat on buses for three hours waiting to leave for the airport. Then they were taken off the buses and held in meeting rooms until a final decision to not travel was made.
"There was nobody more frustrated," Golding said. "I can assure they didn't want to wait another day. Everybody wanted to exhaust everything that we could to get here Friday night. They called us and told us we weren't able to do that."
Golding compared the situation to the unusual circumstances of practicing and playing games during the COVID-19 pandemic."
"I told the players this very much felt like COVID-19 to me," Golding said. "We didn't get to decide this, we didn't get to choose this, but it is what it is. So, let's show up tomorrow, and we've got to be ready to go, because I know they will be."
Golding said he was worried about his players sleeping in their homes on Friday night, but noted the Rebels showed up with "good energy and good attitude."