No. 19 SMU, Florida State kick off after nearly 2-hour delay due to power outage

On Monday night, September 7, 2026, the highly anticipated Labor Day matchup between No. 19 SMU and Florida State was postponed for nearly two hours due to a power outage at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla. The electrical disruption, caused by an issue with the main transformer's wiring, plunged the stadium into darkness just minutes before the scheduled kickoff at 7:30 p.m. EDT.

Officials from both teams, SMU's Damon Evans and Florida State's Michael Alford, convened on the field to discuss the situation with ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips. The teams, SMU coming in at 19th in the nation and Florida State starting at 0-0, had already exited their respective tunnels and taken their positions on the sidelines when the power failure occurred.

After a delay of approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes, the game finally resumed at 9 p.m. EDT. However, it was clear that the conditions were less than ideal for play, with several technical issues plaguing the stadium. The west side tower's lights were functioning, but other areas remained dark. Coach-to-player communication was absent, as were the team iPads and the public address announcer.

The scoreboard remained non-operational, and there was no visible game clock on the field; on-field officials were manually tracking the time.

Replays of key moments were shown on the Jumbotron throughout the delay. The stadium's countdown clock stopped at 7:30 p.m., signaling the official start of the power outage. The teams were eventually returned to their locker rooms, and the game proceeded under these challenging circumstances, marking the climax of the first full slate of college football games of the weekend.