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Texas Longhorns scheduled to fly out of Austin late Friday afternoon

With any luck, the Horns will make it to Ames on Friday and not have to play in excessively wet conditions on Saturday.

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Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

With flights grounded and historic flooding throughout Central Texas throughout much of the day Friday, the Texas Longhorns are still expected to leave Austin at 4 p.m. CT in preparation for Saturday's 6 p.m. CT contest on FS1 against the Iowa State Cyclones in Ames:

There had been concerns that continued precipitation could delay the flight until Saturday morning, which would significantly disrupt the normal gameday routine for the team.

Austin-Bergstrom Airport closed for several hours on Friday as the Air Traffic Control Tower and Terminal Radar Approach Control facility experienced significant flooding, taking on six inches of water as the southeast side of town got hit the hardest by massive amounts of rainfall.

The area around 183 and Onion Creek received 11 inches of rain during a six-hour period in the early morning hours on Friday.

But even if the Horns manage to get out of Austin during the late afternoon on Friday with the weather expected to clear for several hours, it may not be the last time that the team deals with the wider effects of the system that caused the torrential downpours in Texas.

Increasing cloudiness in Iowa is supposed to give way to showers in Ames beginning late Friday night and continuing into the morning. By game time, the prediction is for cool and partly cloudy weather with 10 mph winds and the hope is that the previous precipitation won't be heavy enough to impact the field conditions.

Jack Trice Stadium has twice received College Football Field of the Year awards from the Sports Turf Managers Association and was recently named the No. 1 natural grass field in college football, so as long as the rainfall isn't heavier than predicted, the footing on the field should be fine when the Horns and Cyclones kick off.

For a team that couldn't show much in the passing game after playing through heavy rain last weekend in Austin, having the full playbook at the disposal of Jay Norvell would be a huge relief.

As would getting out of Austin as scheduled on Friday afternoon.