North Dakota State Bison Travel Delay Before Hawaii Game, Digi Mart USA News: North Dakota State’s football team was scheduled to leave Fargo’s Hector International Airport at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, but mechanical issues with Eastern Airlines, the charter company hired to fly the Bison to Honolulu, pushed departure back to just before 1 a.m.
Friday.
The team landed in Honolulu at 4:45 a.m. local time.
According to the publisher’s report, the schedule remained largely unchanged on Friday, including a tour of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor at 11 a.m., followed by free time and football-related activities.
NDSU athletic director Matt Larsen praised the group’s composure, saying nothing surprises him about the team. The airline notified the school in advance of the problems, and the makeshift Thursday schedule had the Bison practicing in Fargo without the full squad, as some players not on the travel roster had already gone home or could not leave class.
Head coach Tim Polasek said the players handled the disruption well and were eager to board the plane and rest. He said he would assess any effects on the team’s routines once they resumed normal activities.
The team reached Hawaii before the Federal Aviation Administration shut down all airports in the United States, news that reached the Bison while they were touring Pearl Harbor. The FAA lifted the shutdown in the early evening, but the report said it was unclear whether, or how, the closure would affect other Mountain West Conference games, including those involving Wyoming, UNLV, Air Force, San Jose State and New Mexico.
NDSU kicks off against Hawaii at 10 p.m. Central time in a game that will be aired on The CW.
Larsen said that with conference standings and championship eligibility at stake, he hoped all the affected teams would get to play their games this weekend.
