Major College Football Game Faces Alarming Threat as Fans Asked to Evacuate

In 2018, Akron faced Nebraska at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. But just minutes after the opening kickoff, the PA announcements started blaring in the stadium, giving those 85,000 spectators vibes coming straight off apocalyptic movies. But these announcements have been regular for college football fans, courtesy of the NCAA’s strict lightning safety protocols. So, per the NCAA mandates, the Nebraska game was suspended and never even rescheduled. And this year, as Clemson goes on to face the Troy Trojans today, reports suggest a similar tough outing could be in store for the Tigers.

According to recent reports, there has been a lightning warning ahead of the Clemson and Troy Trojans game, as PA announcements continue to call for the evacuation of the people present in the stadium. “Lightning Warning: Lightning has been detected within 8 miles of Memorial Stadium. Leave the seating area and move to a safe location,” read the Memorial Stadium scoreboard in bold letters. Could this lead to the potential cancellation of the game?

Currently, the kickoff is set at 3:35 PM, as according to the latest update by Chapel Fowler, there’s another lightning advisory, although this won’t potentially delay the game for now. “Lightning delay at Clemson. Play is being halted for a minimum of 30 minutes here,” reported Chapel Fowler on X. While it may not look like a cancellation for now, but delay surely looks to be on the cards, and it could well turn out to be more than 30 minutes.

The NFL’s Week 1 opener between the Eagles and the Cowboys saw a whopping 65-minute delay after lightning was reported around the Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday. Although the game still happened as the Eagles edged past the Cowboys by 24-20, as the play resumed at 12:18 AM, but NCAA’s tough regulations regarding lightning safety could potentially lead to Clemson walking away without a result from an easy Trojans game. And it’s not just about cancellation; coaches have a lot to manage after such instances.

For instance, in 2011, the Marshall and Virginia game went on for almost eight hours and was even cut short in the fourth quarter. “Those kids eat their pregame meal four hours prior to the game, so they hadn’t eaten since 11 o’clock that day, and we weren’t prepared for that,” said Marshall head coach Doc Holliday about the tough task at hand due to the game’s unusual length. Moreover, when a team is playing on the road, managing such uncertainties becomes a challenge. Although Clemson isn’t playing on the road, some problems still can resurface.

Can Clemson reschedule their game in case of a potential cancellation?

The Akron vs Nebraska game that was canceled due to persistent lightning issues in 2018 was set to be rescheduled. Moreover, another game between Iowa State and South Dakota also got canceled in the same period. However, rescheduling the game became a headache for both teams. Iowa State’s Athletic Director at the time described the difficulties associated with rescheduling.

“The challenge is the opponent would need to be available to play…Needless to say, it will be difficult to find an opponent that meets those requirements and is interested in coming to Ames,” wrote Jamie Pollard in a letter on the school’s website. In that sense, since the Troy Trojans are a non-conference team, the likelihood of the game getting rescheduled would be slim.

Cancellation of the games also led to several disputes between the programs, especially for the non-conference games. Take, for example, Miami’s 2017 game against Arkansas, which was canceled due to “bad weather.” The Razorbacks sued the program and demanded $650,000 in damages. And even if cancellation doesn’t happen and just delays, staffers find it hard to keep their players ready to make it on the field on short notice. “That was the hard part of just, ‘OK, we’re getting ready to go,” said former Gators’ special teams coordinator Coleman Hutzler about the difficulties in such situations.