Penn State football's Week 11 matchup with Minnesota has hit a roadblock.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), according to Pete Thamel and Mark Schlabach of ESPN, issued a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon around 4 p.m. ET. Per their report, the FAA issued the ground stop due to "communications problems at regional air traffic control centers."
The Golden Gophers (5-4, 3-3 Big Ten) were one of the teams affected by these groundings. They were scheduled to depart at 2:30 p.m. via a Sun Country Airlines flight but did not take off.
The FAA lifted the nationwide ground stop roughly four afters after it was issued. As of 7:30 p.m. ET, though, Minnesota had yet to determine its travel plans to Happy Valley for Saturday's game, Jamie Lynch of Onward State reported.
“The University of Minnesota football was on its charter flight about to depart for Penn State when the FAA nationwide ground stoppage went into affect,” Minnesota Senior Associate Athletic Director Paul Rovnak reportedly told Onward State.
“As a result, the Gophers were unable to travel to Penn State on Friday for Saturday’s game. Minnesota has been in communication with the Big Ten and Penn State and will provide relevant updates as necessary."
Kickoff for Saturday, Nov. 13 was scheduled for 7 p.m. ET at Beaver Stadium. There have been no updates as of 10:00 p.m. ET as to whether kickoff has been delayed.
Teams in flight limbo:
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 13, 2026
Big 12: Baylor, Kansas State, Utah and Arizona State
SEC: Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas
ACC: All visiting teams on the ground.
Big Ten: Minnesota, Purdue and Washington
ALSO confirmed in limbo -- Oregon State, Wyoming and North Texas. https://t.co/90SdwxZvmW
Minnesota travel plans get delayed due to FAA nationwide ground stop
While the ground stop was lifted, that doesn't mean every flight that was delayed will depart immediately.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters Friday night that it will be slow getting all flights in the air. However, he added, according to Blue White Illustrated, that flights carrying a larger number of passengers will be prioritized over smaller flights.
“Finally, with general aviation. If we have aircraft that’s moving six people, that’s a lower priority. But this weekend we have movements that have 60, 80, 100 people on those aircraft, we are going to give those aircraft a priority," Duffy said. "Hopefully tomorrow we’ll see far better movement.”
A Big Ten spokesperson told ESPN that conference officials were already on-site for their respective Week 11 games before the ground stop was issued.
Other teams in the Big Ten that were affected were Purdue (at No. 15 Iowa) and Washington (at Michigan State). The Boilermakers reportedly deplaned and took buses to Iowa City and the Huskies expected to resume initial travel plans later Friday evening. Washington and Michigan State do not have a confirmed kickoff time due to the delays. They were originally scheduled to play at 4:15 p.m. ET.
A drive from Minnesota to Penn State is about 15 hours long, which all but nixes out busing the team to Happy Valley as a reasonable option for the Golden Gophers.
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