NC State announces tentative restart time vs. Notre Dame

Weather got in the way of Saturday’s showdown between NC State and Notre Dame early in the second quarter. However, it appears the two teams are gearing up to try and play again.

A tentative restart time of 2:35 p.m. ET has been announced, according to NC State’s guest services. That’s contingent on lightning leaving the area and allowing the teams to be back on the field.

ABC’s Molly McGrath reported the two teams are in the locker rooms and will remain there until the lightning moves eight miles away from the stadium. That has to happen for 30 minutes before players can start a 10-minute warmup and the game can begin. Although there’s more rain in the area, it doesn’t appear they’re bringing lightning.

“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.”

As the delay went along, concerns also grew about how close the game is to halftime coupled with the length of the delay. As a result, officials were talking about a shortened halftime to help account for the pause in play.

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.”

Notre Dame took a 3-0 lead over NC State into the delay, which started at the 14:45 mark in the second quarter. The Fighting Irish had just taken over after a Wolfpack punt.