Florida State Blackout Fuels Miami Rivalry Trolling — Miami, Florida

MIAMI, Florida — Miami wasted no time turning Florida State’s stadium disaster into rivalry content.

Areas affected and restoration response

Both programs entered the week with real stakes attached.

Miami had already picked up a win of its own earlier in the week, and Florida State was hosting a ranked opponent in its own season opener, making the timing of the outage even more painful.

The confirmed details are straightforward. Florida State hosted SMU at Doak Campbell Stadium, and kickoff, originally scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

ET, was eventually pushed to 9:15 p.m. ET after a transformer blew while being reset, according to ESPN’s Taylor McGregor.

It’s a particularly awkward outcome given the stadium underwent $265 million in renovations before last season. Once play resumed, the game operated under strange restrictions.

There was no coach-to-player helmet communication, no working scoreboards, and teams had to rely on old-school hand signals from the sideline instead of iPads.

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The Seminoles’ Week 1 home opener against SMU was delayed roughly one hour and 40 minutes by a power outage, and Miami’s official account made sure everyone in college football saw it happen, though the trolling didn’t land quite as cleanly as Miami hoped.