Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny went scorched earth on the SEC on Saturday, Nov. 14, for the conference's handling of the Sooners' game against Ole Miss being postponed to Sunday, the only game in college football being moved back an entire day.
Ole Miss was caught in travel problems on Nov. 13 due to the Federal Aviation Administration calling a ground stop on all air travel in the United States due to an air traffic control safety issue. The ground stop was lifted late Friday night around 8:30 p.m. ET, but Ole Miss was still unable to make it to Norman, Oklahoma, for its scheduled kickoff 4:15 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Denny released a pointed statement late Friday night detailing the Sooners' problems with the SEC and commissioner Greg Sankey's
decision, given Oklahoma having to change its gameday plans and fans having also change their travel arrangements.
ESPN commentator Paul Finebaum took offense to Denny's comments during SEC Nation on Saturday morning, defending the SEC and commissioner Greg Sankey while accusing Denny of "pandering" the Oklahoma's fan base.
Denny, in his first year as Oklahoma's athletic director, fired back when asked if the scheduling conflict has hurt the program's relationship with the SEC.
"I don’t know," Denny told SoonerScoop and On3 on Nov. 14. "They’ll probably send their carnival barker out there to accuse me of pandering again. And candidly, I don’t care. My job and my duty is to our players, our university, and our fan base. If they don’t like the way we handle our business, I just don’t much care about that."
A game being postponed less than 36 hours before scheduled kickoff has more logistical problems than just preparing both teams. There's potentially economic fallout for the city, fans' travel plans being unaccommodated and Oklahoma juggling three other athletic events on campus Sunday.
Denny wrote in his statement late Friday night that the "wrong outcome" was reached. Finebaum disagreed with Denny's frustrated comments, calling it "pathetic."
"What I don't think is correct is Roger Denny, the athletic director there, pathetically pandering to his fanbase at midnight to try to cover up whatever, I don't know," Finebaum said. "But, Mr. Denny, the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference made a decision for the entire conference and for the safety of everyone. He's not concerned about what you're doing or your fan base.
"... What he did here was against the code of the SEC, to call out a commissioner during a national crisis and emergency. ... I think he's dead wrong and quite frankly, I think it's unbecoming of a leader in college athletics or anywhere to do what he did."
Paul Finebaum issued some strong words on Oklahoma AD Roger Denny:
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) November 14, 2026
"What he did here was against the code of the SEC.
"To call out a commissioner during a national crisis and emergency.
"He's thinking about himself and his fan base.
"I think he's dead wrong." pic.twitter.com/NUBNhAxcLa
Oklahoma brass is frustrated and rightfully so, with every other college football team nationally managing to still play games on Saturday despite the chaos of flight delays across the country.
All there's left to do now is to settle it on the field, in a game expected to have heavy showers and low temperatures.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oklahoma AD calls out SEC, 'carnival barker' Finebaum after Ole Miss game rescheduled
