EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Washington was one of the teams whose travel plans were delayed by the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to ground all flights.
That didn't get in the way of the Huskies accomplishing a goal to become eligible for a bowl game.
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Michigan State quarterback Alessio Milivojevic (11) looks to pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Washington, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
Michigan State wide receiver Bryson Williams (14) comes down with a reception in the end zone for a touchdown against Washington cornerback Emmanuel Karnley, rear, during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
Washington running back Jayden Limar (17) is stopped by Michigan State defensive lineman Ben Roberts (55) and Michigan State defensive lineman Kenny Soares Jr., bottom right, during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
Michigan State wide receiver Fredrick Moore (6) is brought down by Washington safety Alex McLaughlin (7) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. (1) throws a pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Michigan State, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
Jayden Limar had a tiebreaking, 1-yard touchdown run with 2:24 left and Washington held on to beat Michigan State 21-14 on Saturday night after arriving about 15 hours before kickoff.
“There was a lot of adversity over the course of the last 24 hours, and I think our team handled it exceptionally well,” coach Jedd Fisch said.
The Huskies (6-4, 3-4 Big Ten) have won three straight on the road, but they haven't had a trip quite like their latest one.
“Regardless what time we fly in, we knew the game was going to be played,” Huskies quarterback Demond Williams Jr. said.
The Spartans (3-7, 1-6) can't earn an automatic bid to the postseason in coach Pat Fitzgerald's debut season after losing for the seventh time in eight games.
“You can’t beat your opponent when you beat yourself and I take responsibility," Fitzgerald said.
Michigan State missed two chances to break a 14-all tie in the second half and its comeback hopes ended with Carson Gulker's fumble at the Washington 41 with 35 seconds remaining.
Cam Fancher was about to be sacked by Ramzak Fruean and threw an ill-advised pass over his head that Jacob Manu intercepted with one hand on the sideline at the Washington 23 late in the third quarter. Liam Boyd was wide right on 50-yard field goal attempt early in the fourth quarter after Dezmen Roebuck lost the football on a punt return.
Washington used a trick play to spark its game-winning drive.
Demond Williams Jr. tossed the ball to Roebuck, who threw a lateral back to the quarterback to set up a 32-yard pass to Decker DeGraaf and Limar's 1-yard run put the Huskies ahead a few plays later.
Michigan State quarterback Alessio Milivojevic injured his left arm in the second quarter after completing 7 of 12 passes for 108 yards. Fancher, who left the game with an injury before returning, was 14 of 22 for 134 yards with a touchdown pass and an interception.
A week after not scoring a touchdown in a 15-6 win over rival Michigan, the Spartans got in the end zone twice in the first half against Washington and were held scoreless in the second half.
Milivojevic converted a third-and-8 on the opening drive with a 30-yard pass to Bryson Williams and threw a 26-yard pass to Gulker on the next snap, setting up Gulker's 1-yard run after taking a direct snap in the backfield.
Williams Jr. threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to Chris Lawson late in the first quarter and connected with the receiver again for a 17-yard, go-ahead touchdown pass midway through the second quarter.
The Spartans pulled into a 14-all tie on Fancher's 2-yard pass to Bryson Williams with 1:55 left in the first half after converting a third-and-20 with Fancher's 29-yard completion to Fredrick Moore.
Washington: The team overcame a challenging night of traveling and limited sleep to earn a win that will put the program in the postseason for the third time in three seasons under Fisch.
“It’s a credit to them with the tough trip they had," Fitzgerald said.
Michigan State: The hits kept coming for a banged-up team with two quarterbacks, safety Michael Richard and defensive lineman Ben Roberts joining the long list of injured players.
Washington plays No. 6 Indiana at home on Saturday.
Michigan State hosts No. 18 Oregon on Friday night.
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Michigan State quarterback Alessio Milivojevic (11) looks to pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Washington, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
Michigan State wide receiver Bryson Williams (14) comes down with a reception in the end zone for a touchdown against Washington cornerback Emmanuel Karnley, rear, during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
Washington running back Jayden Limar (17) is stopped by Michigan State defensive lineman Ben Roberts (55) and Michigan State defensive lineman Kenny Soares Jr., bottom right, during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
Michigan State wide receiver Fredrick Moore (6) is brought down by Washington safety Alex McLaughlin (7) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. (1) throws a pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Michigan State, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
Airlines canceled thousands of flights across the U.S. on Saturday as they worked to recover from a nationwide ground stop that left passengers scrambling for seats and disrupted travel around the world.
The U.S. air travel schedule should be back to normal by the end of Sunday, two days after what was the nation's longest ground stop in 25 years, Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford said, declaring the “worst is behind us.”
The problem began when contractor L3Harris Technologies Inc. was replacing a section of the air traffic control system’s old copper wire with new fiber wire, somehow causing the system to overload, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
The work led to “intermittent” communications and radar gaps, prompting the government to shut down air traffic for more than four hours. Officials were investigating whether contractor “incompetence” or a faulty router was the cause,” he said.
“Our contractor didn't meet the moment or the equipment didn’t meet the moment,” Duffy said.
L3Harris said in a statement that it was supporting the FAA in the investigation to understand what led to the ground stop and the company takes seriously the impact to travelers, airlines and air traffic operations.
The FAA normally consults its own technicians in advance and asks them to assess the risks of any upgrades or repairs but that didn't happen in this case, the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, the union representing the agency’s technicians, said in a Saturday statement.
The nationwide stop was the first since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system that sends notices to pilots malfunctioned, and the second since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Andrew Charlton, an aviation consultant, said Friday's stoppage affected about a quarter of the 45,000 flights in the U.S. each day.
“The knock-on effect of that is incredible,” said Charlton, managing director of Aviation Advocacy. “The aircraft doesn’t just fly from A to B and back … and then stop. It then moves onto C and then over to E and around and around and around. It is, of course, exacerbated if you’re talking about long-haul flights, international flights over the Atlantic or over the Pacific.”
At airports across the U.S., passengers scrambled Saturday to figure out how to reach their destinations. Some waited out the chaos in hotels while others sprinted to snag rental cars and bus or train tickets. Many camped out in airports.
Others got creative. Video in Seattle's airport showed a passenger serenading stressed out travelers with classical music. Stranded strangers in Lexington, Kentucky, participated in a cornhole tournament. The singer T-Pain and the band Hoobastank were captured on video singing to passengers as they waited on commercial airplanes.
Dan Russell, 66, learned his connecting flight from Hawaii to California was canceled a half-hour before boarding was scheduled in San Diego Friday night. Hotels were full, so he and his wife waited at the airport.
“There’s nothing you can do,” Russell said.
At the Newark, N.J., airport, Umi Egchi was trying to figure out when he could return home to Japan.
“I’m not sure exactly what happened. I just want to go home,” said Egchi, who had a sleep mask on top of his head.
Sports teams that traveled for games this weekend adjusted game start times, and No. 19 Mississippi’s football game at Oklahoma was delayed to Sunday.
FlightAware, a website that tracks flights, said more than 6,000 flights within, into or out of the U.S. had been canceled Saturday.
Duffy reiterated Saturday that no one was in danger as more than 3,000 flights in the air at the time of the grounding order landed safely.
Trump administration officials blamed Congress for failing to approve more money to replace decades-old technology that helps manage air traffic. Duffy said 70% of the system had been replaced, but his agency needs new air traffic control towers and runways.
The FAA has replaced thousands of old copper wires with fiber optic lines and upgraded hundreds of radio systems as part of the overhaul that began last year with $12.5 billion in funding. Duffy and the White House want $30 billion more to complete the work.
“We have aging infrastructure throughout the airspace,” Duffy said, while stressing that flying remains safe.
Charlton, the aviation consultant, pointed to the difficulties of updating a system that can never shut down.
“What you’re watching here is trying to change the tires of your car when the car’s going at 80 miles an hour down the expressway, because nothing stops in aviation,” he said.
Although Duffy said he had repeatedly spoken with President Donald Trump since the ground stop began, the president has not spoken publicly on the matter, nor issued statements via social media. He spoke on the phone with a Fox News reporter, but that was not on camera.
The problem appeared similar to a regional air traffic control communication outage in September that snarled hundreds of flights across the Northeast. That disruption was linked to a construction crew cutting a fiber optic line.
Aging equipment was also blamed for brief radar outages last year that disrupted Newark airport.
Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo said the difference Friday was the scale of the disruption that left controllers unable to reliably talk to pilots.
“If you don’t have that ability, whether it’s because the old wires that they have are just run down or for whatever reason, you’ve got to stop airplanes on the ground and not put them in the air,” said Arroyo, a former United Airlines pilot.
Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island. Associated Press journalists Jill Colvin in New York, Seung Min Kim in Washington, Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Bernice Bautista in Las Vegas, Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
Passengers wait for their flights at George Bush Intercontinental Airport Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in Houston after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted nationwide ground stops. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Passengers wait for their flights at George Bush Intercontinental Airport Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in Houston after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted nationwide ground stops. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Passengers wait in line at a baggage claim area at George Bush International Airport on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in Houston, after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted nationwide ground stops. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Two travelers sleep in the baggage claim area at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Chantilly, Va., Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
An American Airlines flight takes off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va., after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, arrives for a news conference at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
Visitors to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center observation tower watch an airplane as it prepares to land at Washington Dulles International Airport after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted nationwide ground stops in Chantilly, Va., Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Passenger watch as workers unload luggage from a United plane as flights are delayed at Los Angeles International Airport Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Passengers wait as flights are delayed inside a terminal at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
The sun sets over Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in DFW Airport, Texas, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
A passenger moves through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport as all flights are canceled or delayed, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
People wait at a terminal at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Arlington, Va., after the FAA issued a nationwide ground stop. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
An agent helps travelers at a ticketing desk at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
