A lightning strike in the vicinity of Bobby Dodd Stadium suspended play at halftime of Georgia Tech’s game vs. Duke Saturday. Lightning struck within an eight-mile radius of the stadium just as the teams returned to the field from halftime, prompting an announcement to fans to clear the stadium. Most complied, while others huddled under the upper-deck overhang.
A second strike extended the delay to 77 minutes, with play resuming around 3:30 p.m. During the delay, Tech players stayed in the locker room, stretching, meeting with coaches and trying to relax. B-back Zach Laskey said that the Yellow Jackets came out flat in the second half, but did not attribute it to the delay.
“Duke had to go through the same thing, so I don’t think there was an excuse for that,” quarterback Tim Byerly said. “
A 30-minute delay was put in place around 2:15 p.m. and was extended again around 2:45 p.m. Fans were asked to evacuate the stadium. The protocol is a 30-minute delay after the most recent strike, but the order was struck just after 3 p.m. and fans were permitted to re-enter.
Tech’s last weather-suspended game was its 49-44 win over Florida State in 2009 in Tallahassee, Fla., the game in which quarterback Joshua Nesbitt famously took the ball away from a Seminoles defender after a fumble on an option pitch to A-back Roddy Jones.
Prior to that, Tech’s season opener in 2000 against Virginia Tech was cancelled due to lightning, including a strike that hit the car of ESPN analyst Lee Corso in the stadium parking lot.
