Audric Estime breaks away for 80-yard touchdown run after lengthy weather delay

Notre Dame had to wait more than an hour to start its first drive of the second half against NC State. It’s safe to say Audric Estime didn’t cool off much during that time.

Estime broke away on the very first play out of the delay for an 80-yard touchdown run to give the Fighting Irish a 10-0 lead over the Wolfpack. It was an electrifying play after the delay, which came about as weather moved into the area in Raleigh.

And just like that, Notre Dame jumped into the driver’s seat.

AUDRIC ESTIME IS GONEEEEEEE💨

pic.twitter.com/F8QBm7V9LZ

— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 9, 2023

The play was by far the biggest of the day for Notre Dame, which had just 39 yards of offense prior to Audric Estime’s impressive run. The NC State offense was also struggling and continued to do so on the ensuing drive.

All told, the delay lasted 105 minutes, according to Blue and Gold’s Tyler Horka. Because of the timing of the delay, officials were talking about a shortened halftime to help account for the pause in play.

ABC’s Molly McGrath said both teams agreed to a condensed halftime. That’s to make sure they’re not coming off a long break, playing, taking another long break and starting back up again.

“They’re gonna go out onto the field, resume play at 2:35 and then they’re gonna play the second quarter as is,” McGrath said. “And then, the teams have agreed to a condensed 15-minute halftime.”

There’s still weather in the area — but lightning doesn’t appear to be in the cards

Although there’s more rain in the area, McGrath said it doesn’t appear they’re bringing lightning. That’s why the game was able to restart at 2:35 p.m. ET — and, hopefully, continue on the rest of the way.

“There’s a storm cell [to the] south, but it’s just going to be rain,” McGrath said. “There’s not any more lightning expected for the rest of the day, hopefully. So teams are going to take the field at 2:25, they’ll have a mandatory 10 minute warm-up and then play will resume. We’re supposed to resume at 2:35 p.m. Eastern.”

During the delay, the new scoreboard at Carter-Finley went out due to the lightning. McGrath said that generated concern about the state of the clock and whether it would work for the rest of the game. However, officials performed some test and it should be good to go.

“There was a lot of talk in that meeting about issues with the game clock,” McGrath said. “While we were taking shelter under here, there was a loud boom. All of the power went out in the stadium. The large video monitor was struck by lightning here and they were worried about the game clock and whether or not it was able to be used in the second half of the game. But the game clock is fine. They were able to resolve that issue.”