The conference announced early Saturday that the game, originally scheduled for 3:15 p.m. Saturday, would be moved to noon Sunday. The change came after Ole Miss was unable to fly to Norman because of a nationwide Federal Aviation Administration ground stop that halted most U.S. flights for about five hours Friday.

In a statement released shortly after the SEC's announcement, Denny said the university objected strongly to the rescheduling but was left with no alternative.

"After multiple conversations with the league office, Commissioner Sankey informed us of his decision to move our game to Sunday, over our strong objection," Denny said. "After continued discussions, he further informed us that our failure to play on Sunday at the directed time would result in a forfeit."

The SEC said Ole Miss could not leave Oxford on Friday night because of the ground stoppage. Even after the order was lifted, the Rebels' charter company could not accommodate a late-night departure, pushing the team's travel to Saturday afternoon.

"The Ole Miss football team was unable to depart Oxford Friday night due to the FAA ground stoppage," the conference said. "After the stoppage was lifted, a late-night departure could not be accommodated by the charter company with which Ole Miss was contracted and the team's departure has been delayed until Saturday afternoon."

The network televising the game will be determined later, the SEC said. The contest had been slated for SEC Network.

Denny said Oklahoma began communicating with Ole Miss staff and conference leadership as soon as it learned of the travel problems, and was told the Rebels explored every option to reach Norman for a Saturday kickoff.

"But, unlike every other team traveling for competition tomorrow, they were unable to find a solution," he said.

The athletics director directed much of his frustration at the impact on fans who had already made travel and lodging arrangements around a Saturday game.

"Those who have made travel arrangements, accommodations and personal plans around a Saturday game now face unnecessary disruption and hardship," Denny said. "Their time, commitment and investment deserve greater consideration than they were afforded in the conference's decision tonight."

He added that the outcome was unfair to the university's athletes and its supporters.

"Put simply, this decision isn't fair to our athletes, our institution or to Sooner Nation," Denny said. "But we've been given no other choice. We are obligated to play the game when directed, but we remain steadfast in our belief that the wrong outcome was reached this evening."

Oklahoma said it would release more details Saturday about game logistics and what it described as fan appreciation measures.

The FAA ground stop, the longest nationwide halt to flights in 25 years, disrupted travel across the country and stranded professional and college teams alike. Federal officials said new technology being added to the air traffic control system overloaded older systems, causing intermittent communications and radar gaps. They said there was no indication of a cyberattack.

For Norman, the episode turned a routine conference matchup into a test of how much say a university has when a league office invokes its rules under extraordinary circumstances — and who bears the cost when those decisions land on fans and players.