This isn't turning out to be North Carolina State's day.
Not only were they trailing No. 10 Notre Dame 3-0 in the second quarter, but the game was delayed by a lightning storm. To make matters worse, the lightning knocked out their new scoreboard at Carter-Finley Stadium.
The new video board is believed to be the 11th largest single-display board in a college football stadium. Manufactured and installed by Daktronics, it measures a whopping 7,121 square feet with 6.6 million pixels and 75 audio speakers.
The school is used to being a technological trailblazer in their football program. In 1985, the athletic department installed one of college football's first animated boards. So imagine the excitement of not only kicking off the Wolfpack's home opener against the Fighting Irish, but showing off its latest innovation to the fanbase.
So much for best-laid plans. The Wolfpack kicked off the season with a 24-14 road victory at UConn August 31. Notre Dame is 2-0 coming into the game and hasn't lost to the Wolfpack since 2016.
The Fighting Irish, favored by 7.5 points by FanDuel coming into the game, took a 3-0 lead on a 54-yard field goal by Spencer Shrader in the first quarter. After an NC State punt, the Fighting Irish took over possession before the game was delayed.
A lightning strike just momentarily put NC State’s brand new video board out pic.twitter.com/DaYfrC4te2
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) September 9, 2023
The new video board had to be completely rebooted. At the time of this writing, the game is still in delay mode. NC State fans certainly hope this isn't a bad omen for the season.
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