College Football Just Had the Weirdest Night of the Season — And Somehow It Got Even Better

College Football Just Had the Weirdest Night of the Season — And Somehow It Got Even Better

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College Football Just Had the Weirdest Night of the Season — And Somehow It Got Even Better
College Football Just Had the Weirdest Night of the Season — And Somehow It Got Even Better
Florida State Seminoles defensive back Ja'bril Rawls (6) and Florida State Seminoles linebacker Chris Jones (10) tackle an opponent. The SMU Mustangs defeated the Florida State Seminoles 27-24 at Doak Campbell Stadium after a game that kicked off on Monday, Sept. 7, 2026.

College football already has enough chaos without somebody turning the lights off.

Unfortunately for Florida State, that’s basically what happened.

No. 19 SMU and Florida State were supposed to play a normal Week 1 game Monday night.

Instead, Doak Campbell Stadium went dark.

The outage delayed kickoff by nearly two hours after an electrical short in the stadium’s main transformer caused problems throughout the building. Eventually, enough lighting returned for the game to begin around 9:15 p.m.

But even then, things weren’t exactly normal.

No coach-to-player communication.

No sideline iPads.

No PA announcer.

No working scoreboard.

Just football.

And somehow, the game still turned into a thriller.

SMU eventually escaped with a 27-24 victory on Nick Reed’s late field goal.

Honestly?

This is why we watch college football.

Give us the blackout.

Give us the broken scoreboard.

Give us the completely unnecessary chaos.

And then give us a three-point game decided at the buzzer.

Perfect.

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