The Minnesota Gophers (5-4, 3-3) are coming off back-to-back losses, the latest a 34-20 loss to No. 5 UCLA on Nov. 7. Next up is a Saturday night trip to Beaver Stadium to face Penn State (5-4, 2-4).

The Governor’s Victory Bell is on the line, and Penn State holds it after a 26-25 win in 2024. According to the Gophers’ game notes, a win would give Minnesota all four of its rivalry trophies for the first time in program history.

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CT on FS1. Minnesota is 2-6 all-time at Penn State, but on Friday afternoon, just getting to Pennsylvania became the bigger hurdle.

FAA ground stop hits the Minnesota Gophers’ travel plans

The Federal Aviation Administration put a nationwide ground stop on all U.S. airports Friday afternoon. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X it was caused by a “communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.”

The FAA called it a “temporary telecommunications outage” and said every flight had been accounted for. Nationwide ground stops are extremely rare, according to CNBC, with the last ones in January 2023 and on 9/11.

That stop reached the Gophers before they could leave Minneapolis. Randy Johnson (Star Tribune) reported that the team plane to State College was grounded in Minneapolis.

Since, the football team has reportedly gone back to campus. It hopes to fly out Friday morning. However, there are multiple reports out now that have the Minnesota vs Penn State game scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. CT in jeopardy of being rescheduled.

The Federal Aviation Adminstration ground stop of all flights in the U.S. has put the Gophers-Penn State game scheduled for Saturday night in jepopardy, the Pioneer Press has learned.

As of 5 p.m. CT, the Gophers team busses were headed back to U campus. The delay and the challenge of a 15-hour bus trip from Minneapolis to eastern Pennsylvania have opened up the possibility to contingency plans for the Big Ten game.

Gophers head back to campus as Penn State game falls in doubt

Minnesota isn’t the only team caught in it. However, a Big Ten spokesperson told The Athletic that the only conference games facing issues are Washington-Michigan State and Minnesota-Penn State. Washington also returned to campus.

The FAA’s 4:46 p.m. CT advisory said the nationwide ground stop remains in effect, with flights to be released in tiers as conditions allow. An update is expected at 10 p.m. CT. As of Friday evening, the game is still listed for 6 p.m. CT Saturday on FS1. We’ll see if that changes over the next 12-15 hours.