The start of Monday’s Week 1 finale between No. 19 SMU and Florida State was delayed an hour and 45 minutes because of a power outage at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla.
With the teams on the field and the game about to begin just before 7:30 p.m., all the lights inside the stadium went out. The teams remained on the sidelines for nearly 20 minutes while stadium personnel attempted to fix the problem, but they elected to return to the locker rooms with the lights still out and insufficient natural light to begin play.
An hour into the delay, a message on the stadium’s video board said that “an electrical short in the main transformer” caused the power disruption and that electricians were working to restore service.
Soon, ESPN reported that officials determined they had “enough lights” working to start the game at 9:15 p.m., after a 15-minute warmup.
That came with several caveats: The game will be played without coach-to-player communication, iPad access on the sidelines, a PA announcer or an operating scoreboard.
–Field Level Media
