TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida State’s home game against SMU was delayed for nearly two hours after a power outage knocked out the lights at Doak Campbell Stadium on Monday night, but the teams ultimately kicked off — with limited technology compared to the average college football game.
The game, originally scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET, finally kicked off at 9:15 p.m. after the stadium regained enough lighting to play, though not all lights were operational. Inside the stadium, there was no public-address system, scoreboard, coach-to-player helmet communication or replay reviews. The official clock was to be kept on the field.
The outage was caused by an electrical short in the main transformer supplying the power, “causing a disruption to the west side tower,” according to a message on the stadium video board.
As the teams made their entrances for the 7:30 p.m. kickoff and the stadium lights flashed, a power outage swept through the stadium. The stadium lights flickered off, and both teams stood awkwardly as officials huddled at the 20-yard line.
Florida State’s band completed its pregame festivities, including Chief Osceola planting the spear atop Renegade at midfield after the coin toss.
However, neither team left its sideline as the lack of stadium lights made it clear kickoff wouldn’t follow the coin toss.
The stadium’s screen and ribbons remained on through the outage, but the pregame countdown clock paused at 4:40 until kickoff.
A few minutes later, screens inside the stadium announced the game had been delayed due to a power outage, prompting boos from fans.
The game was set to begin just before a 7:52 sunset in Tallahassee. At 7:53, both teams elected to leave the field and return to their locker rooms.
Delays to college football games are not a rare occurrence, though they most often happen due to lightning. Saturday’s prime-time game between LSU and Clemson was pushed back nearly two hours because of storms.
There have been power outages at football games, too, most notably the 2013 Super Bowl, when the lights went out early in the third quarter between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers. The partial outage in the Superdome in New Orleans led to a 34-minute delay in the game.