Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny condemned the Southeastern Conference on Saturday, Nov. 14, over the handling of the Sooners’ game against Ole Miss being pushed back to Sunday, usatoday.com reported.
The matchup stands as the sole college football contest moved an entire day due to nationwide travel disruption. Ole Miss hit travel barriers on Friday, Nov. 13, because the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop across the United States over an air traffic control safety issue.
While the Federal Aviation Administration lifted that ground stop late Friday night around 8:30 p.m. ET, Ole Miss still could not reach Norman, Oklahoma, for a scheduled kickoff at 4:15 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Denny released a pointed statement late Friday night detailing frustration with the conference and commissioner Greg Sankey.
Oklahoma faced forced changes to gameday plans alongside fans who scrambled to adjust their own travel arrangements. “The wrong outcome” was reached, Denny wrote in his statement.
Finebaum Defends Conference Decision
ESPN commentator Paul Finebaum took offense to Denny’s remarks during SEC Nation on Saturday morning, defending the conference and Sankey while accusing the athletic director of pandering to the Oklahoma fan base. Finebaum called the complaints pathetic and criticized the timing of the midnight statement.
“What I don’t think is correct is Roger Denny, the athletic director there, pathetically pandering to his fanbase at midnight to try to cover up whatever, I don’t know,” Finebaum said on SEC Nation.
Finebaum argued that the commissioner made a safety decision for the entire conference rather than individual fan bases.
“What he did here was against the code of the SEC, to call out a commissioner during a national crisis and emergency,” Finebaum said.
Denny Fires Back at Critics
Denny answered the criticism when asked if the scheduling dispute damaged the relationship between the program and the conference.
“They’ll probably send their carnival barker out there to accuse me of pandering again. And candidly, I don’t care,” Denny told SoonerScoop and On3 on Nov. 14. “My job and my duty is to our players, our university, and our fan base. If they don’t like the way we handle our business, I just don’t much care about that.”
Logistical fallout from the delay hit more than just team preparation. The campus must juggle three other athletic events on Sunday alongside the rescheduled football game, creating economic ripples and unaccommodated travel plans for visiting fans.
Nationwide, every other college football team managed to play games on Saturday despite widespread flight chaos. The Sooners and Ole Miss now prepare to settle the conflict on the field under expected heavy showers and low temperatures.