Government Shutdown Could Affect Nebraska's Travel to UCLA

Originally posted on Nebraska Cornhuskers on SI
By Kaleb Henry | Last updated Nov 6, 2025 1:34 PM ET

Nebraska football's trip west could run into some interruptions over the next couple of days.

"Our travel plans are very up in the air right now because of the government shutdown and how that might affect air travel," coach Matt Rhule said at his Thursday press conference. "We're in some meetings right now to try to figure out when we can fly out there."

The United States government has been in a shutdown since the beginning of October. On Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the Federal Aviation Administration will reduce traffic at 40 "high-volume" airports across the country, including a trio of Southern California locations: LAX, Ontario, and San Diego.

Rhule said assistant athletic director of football administration Dr. Susan Elza and other members of the staff would be getting on a call shortly after the press conference for an update.

"They called us today and said, 'Hey, it could potentially be affected,'" Rhule said.

Typically, Rhule's team's travel the day before a game to their destination. He told his team this week that they'll just deal with whatever travel is necessary to get to UCLA.

"If we got to get up at 8 o'clock in the morning tomorrow as opposed to leaving later in the day, then so be it. If we got to wake up on Saturday and fly there and land and drive over and play, at the end of the day, no one wants to hear about your troubles. It's football, so we're going to show and play football to the best of our abilities," Rhule said.

While at the podium, Rhule noted that Dylan Raiola and Gunnar Gottula both had successful surgeries this week.

Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola had successful surgery yesterday to fix his broken fibula, he announced last night on Instagram. pic.twitter.com/RiJIna6hdd
— Amie Just (@Amie_Just) November 6, 2025