“Thunderstruck” may be the Chicago White Sox theme song, but it applies to both the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Michigan Wolverines today. Both of the very storied national college football programs saw their home openers delayed by severe storms and dangerous lightning.
As I write this from inside the Notre Dame press box (which I’m pretty sure is the safest place to be) the stadium has been completely evacuated. The halftime show is cancelled. All the fans are gone, and both the Irish and the USF Bulls are in the locker room awaiting the decision to resume play.
This has never happened before in ND history. It could be awhile for the game resumes because the teams have to re-warm up. USF is up 16-0 right now. The Irish were a 10 point favorite heading in.
(Update: there’s another serious storm system on the way. This game may not be completed because it takes three quarters to be an official game)
In Ann Arbor, the game was suspended at halftime with Michigan leading Western Michigan 20-10 at halftime. The last suspended game was in 2006 versus Central Michigan University.
The kickoff weather in South Bend read like this: 93 degree air temperature, 45% humidity, 98 degree heat index. Currently, radar over the South Bend region shows lots of storm cells on the way. There’s more red than the crowd at a Wisconsin Badgers home game on the weather map. Basically, it’s hotter weather=stronger storms; and the weather for today’s midwestern college football is an inconvenient truth.
Expect this (and the hottest game in Wisconsin history- which I also covered, Thursday night) to be in Al Gore’s next power point and documentary.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
He does regular weekly radio spots in Chicago and Cleveland and has appeared on live shows all across the world from Houston to New Zealand. You can follow him on Twitter
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