Why Florida State, SMU kicked off without headsets, iPads or working scoreboards

The lights inside Doak Campbell Stadium went out at 7:29 p.m. ET on Monday, six minutes before Florida State and No. 19 SMU were scheduled to open ACC play. Both teams were already out of their tunnels. The captains completed the coin toss before officials sent everyone back to the locker rooms.

A power surge took out the stadium lights, the sound system and the press box, and a transformer on the west side of the building blew when crews tried to reset it. The outage was reportedly not weather related. Tallahassee's outage map showed five customers without power, and sunset came at 7:52 p.m. ET.

"There are about 30 people in the room, and what we learned is they're basically throwing a Hail Mary to try to get the power back on. They are on their last option now. If this option works, they're predicting that the lights would come back on at around 9 p.m.," ESPN sideline reporter Taylor McGregor said on the broadcast, describing a meeting that began around 8:15. "In that room, it was ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, both athletic directors. Mike Norvell was in there. Both school presidents. So many officials within the context of this game."