A power outage knocked out the lights at Florida State’s stadium minutes before Monday’s game against SMU, forcing both teams to scrap modern technology and play old-school football, according to Fox News.
The outage hit just as the teams were taking the field ahead of the scheduled 7:39 p.m. ET kickoff, sending the stadium into darkness and driving both squads back to their locker rooms while officials scrambled to figure out what to do next.
For the next hour, representatives from both schools and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips huddled every twenty minutes to weigh their options — including the possibility of postponing the game entirely if the lights couldn’t come back on.
A Third Meeting Changes the Plan
At 8:45 p.m. ET, after their third meeting, the group made a call: the game would be played Monday night, but without any form of electronic communication. That meant no helmet-to-helmet radio links between coaches and quarterbacks, no coordinators barking plays through headsets, and no iPads on the sideline. Just football, the way it used to be played.
Before kickoff, officials were spotted practicing hand signals with coaches while stadium staff worked to get the power fully restored.
The unusual circumstances added another wrinkle to what was already a pivotal early-season matchup for the Seminoles.
A Big Early Test for Florida State
As Bleacher Report noted, Florida State is coming off a tough start to the season, facing SMU this week before hitting the road to take on No. 13 Alabama next week. The Seminoles are hoping to climb back into national relevance, and wins over ranked opponents like the Crimson Tide would go a long way in setting the tone for the rest of the year.
Monday’s game will certainly be remembered for the quirky conditions — two teams forced to rely on hand signals and old-fashioned play-calling in a modern era of football. Whether that works to Florida State’s advantage or leaves them scrambling remains to be seen, but it made for a truly unusual night of college football.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2026/09/07/florida-state-football-game-kicks-it-old-school-after-major-power-outage/