Michigan State football opponent Washington grounded by FAA shutdown

Michigan State football is slated to face Washington in a Big Ten matchup on Saturday, Nov. 14.

There's just one problem: As of Friday evening, the Huskies are still in Seattle, grounded by the FAA's nationwide flight shutdown, according to multiple reports.

The University of Washington Football team is currently sitting in buses awaiting their flight at the King County International Airport, due to the FAA nationwide ground stop, the team confirms to @fox13seattle .@UW_Football is scheduled to play at Michigan St. tomorrow at…

— Lauren Helmbrecht (@lmhelmbrecht) November 13, 2026

Tennessee, Washington and Ole Miss are trying to finalize transit to road games this weekend. No idea how long this FAA grounding will be.
Wake Forest, Mizzou and South Carolina have already arrived to their destinations.

— David Ubben (@davidubben) November 13, 2026

ON DEFENSE: Michigan State football's improving pass rush delivers at right time

What time does Michigan State and Washington play Saturday?

The Huskies are slated to face the Spartans at 4:15 p.m. ET Saturday at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. But, with flights shutdown per the FAA order, travel may not resume until close to midnight Friday, leaving a short time for Washington to cover the approximately 2,300-mile distance.

The Seattle Times reported the Huskies have returned from SeaTac Airport to campus amid the shutdown.

MSU issued a statement around 6:20 p.m. Friday: "Michigan State is in contact with the Big Ten Conference and the University of Washington. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide relevant updates.”

Complicating matters for a potential rescheduling of the MSU-Washington game to Sunday is that the Spartans already are scheduled for a short week ahead, with Oregon scheduled to visit East Lansing on Friday, Nov. 20, for an 8 p.m. kickoff.

If Saturday's game isn't possible, the Big Ten could move Washington-MSU to Dec. 5 before the 8 p.m. Big Ten title game. Both the Spartans (3-6) and Huskies (5-4) still can make a bowl game but are out of the B1G title and CFP pictures, and bowl selections are revealed Dec. 6.

Did Michigan travel safely to Oregon?

Michigan, meanwhile, was scheduled to make virtually the same flight westward, going from Ann Arbor to Eugene, Oregon, for a game against Oregon scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The Wolverines are already in the Pacific Northwest, having traveled on Thursday.

Multiple college football teams were stranded Friday afternoon, waiting for a lift of the grounding order, with at least four known top-25 teams affected: No. 2 Utah, No. 6 Texas, No. 8 Tennessee and No. 19 Mississippi (per The Athletic).

The shutdown could have an effect on MSU sports outside of football, and well after the weekend; an extended pause in flights could disrupt the fifth-ranked MSU men's basketball team's trip to Knoxville, Tennessee, to face No. 9 Tennessee on Tuesday evening.

MSU basketball hosts Northern Iowa on Friday night, and the Spartans are scheduled to fly Monday to play Tuesday night at Tennessee.

Are the Detroit Lions already in Germany?

One team not affected by the flight foulup: The Detroit Lions. Scheduled to face the New England Patriots in Munich, Germany, on Sunday, the Lions – along with quite a few fans – have already arrived across the Atlantic Ocean.

This is a developing news story and will be updated.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football opponent Washington grounded by FAA shutdown