DETROIT — Well, I made it.
With Detroit-bound Alaska Airlines flight AS 313 maybe 10 minutes into its descent, news of the Federal Aviation Administration’s nationwide ground stop for all air traffic began to circulate about the cabin. Airborne flights were allowed to land, which we did, safely, at Detroit Metro.
The Washington Huskies football team, though, was on buses at Boeing Field, preparing to board their charter flight for Saturday’s game at Michigan State in the 1 p.m. hour, when the news broke. Eventually, the team left Boeing Field to return to campus, their travel plans now in limbo.
The Huskies aren’t alone in that uncertainty; as of this writing, a dozen or so teams were reportedly grounded, with a handful of others switching to bus travel.
I’ve reached out to the Big Ten office for comment. If the Huskies can’t get in the air tonight, it’s hard to imagine how they could make Saturday’s 1:15 p.m. PT/4:15 p.m. ET kickoff, and it’s unclear what any potential rescheduling plan would look like. The Big 12, for its part, said in a statement it was "evaluating potential changes to Saturday's football schedule" in light of the ground stop. Arizona State, for example, reportedly plans to fly Saturday morning for its 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff at UCF.
I’ll keep you posted on any news from the Big Ten.
For now, I suppose we should just proceed with our weekly Big Ten picks. At present, Minnesota-Penn State appears to be the only other game that might be affected by the ground stop.
There are (in theory) nine games this week, with every conference team in action. There is one Friday game. All kickoff times Pacific. All lines courtesy of BetMGM. All rankings courtesy of the College Football Playoff selection committee.
Last week: 6-2 against the spread (3-5 straight up)
Season: 33-23 (35-21)