Overview
- Play was paused just before the scheduled 7:30 p.m. kickoff when stadium lights and portions of the press box lost power and both teams returned to their locker rooms.
- Stadium technical staff traced the disruption to an electrical short in a main transformer on the west side and reported that electricians worked to restore service over about 1 hour and 45 minutes.
- Game officials set a revised 9:15 p.m. kickoff and proceeded after warmups despite multiple outages that included limited field lighting, no video replay, no coach‑to‑player helmet communications, no sideline tablets, and no PA or scoreboard.
- ACC commissioner Jim Phillips and school athletic directors stayed involved while stadium staff tested fixes, and officials had discussed postponing the game if repairs failed to produce enough light for safe play.
- The outage drew heavy social‑media reaction and scrutiny because it occurred after a $265 million stadium renovation, raising questions about infrastructure resilience, game‑day safety procedures, and how schools will prevent similar failures.