FOOTBALL: Kent State at Illinois pregame... Or the long, long wait

By David Carducci
Director of New Media

8:35 p.m. 

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Well, I spoke too soon in my earlier blog entry. The earlier promise of clear skies throughout the evening was flawed.

Kickoff is only a half hour away and yet we already in a weather delay at Memorial Stadium. The rain is light, but lightning strikes can be seen beyond the north stands. Both teams have been ordered back to the locker rooms, and the fans have been asked to find shelter in the east and west Great Hall.

Hopefully we are not in for a nightmare similar to the one that turned last night's Toledo vs. Stony Brook game into a "no contest" with the
game being called due to ongoing lightning delays around midnight.

8:45 p.m. UPDATE

It looks like we could be in for a long delay. Every lightning strike within 8 miles brings a reset of the 30-minute clock. Settle in.

9:47 p.m. UPDATE

Photo by David Dermer

We've had more than an hour of this (see photo the right). The rain is still falling in sheets and lightning strikes continue.

Every strike means almost another hour wait... 30 minutes until the all clear, 25 minutes to warm up, then the coin flip and lining up for kickoff.

Hopefully you were able to tune in live on Periscope as we checked in with Ty Linder, Rob Polinsky and Matt Miller in the Kent State Radio booth. We had more than 260 live viewers, which is pretty exciting for just our fourth Periscope broadcast ever, following the Paul Haynes Coach's Corner at Water Street Tavern, last night's walkthrough, and a Q&A with athletic director Joel Nielsen this afternoon.

We'll have more of that this year for all sports, including more behind the scenes broadcasts during road trips for Kent State Football and Men's Basketball.

I've had several friends and family members text me to ask if there's a chance that we would stay until tomorrow to play the game. My guess is we would. But that's just a guess.

Toledo wanted Stony Brook to agree to stay to play today after last night's game could not be played due to similar storms. Stony Brook reportedly refused.

Our videographer Nick Kane brought up a good point, by the way. This delay could favor Kent State.

"Other than the freshmen, everyone in that Kent State locker room has been through this kind of thing before," Kane said, referencing last year's delays in Buffalo. "They know how to handle this."

Hopefully we aren't soaked in for several days the way we were snowed in last year in Buffalo.

10:30 p.m. UPDATE

Well, there will be no football tonight.

The game has been postponed until Saturday at 2 pm EDT (1 pm CDT).

The hotel situation is being sorted out at the moment. I'm off to figure out what's next.