Monday night's game between No. 19 SMU and Florida State kicked off at 9:15 ET after a nearly two-hour delay due to a power outage at Doak Campbell Stadium. The contest proceeded under unusual conditions, with power only restored to limited capacity. Not all stadium lights were operating, and the teams faced multiple disruptions, including no coach-to-player communication, no iPads on the sidelines, and a non-functional public address announcer or scoreboard.

On-field officials manually tracked the time, as there was no public game clock. Some replays were shown on the Jumbotron despite the lighting issues. Lights at the stadium went out at 7:30 p.m., shortly before the originally scheduled kickoff, due to a transformer failure on the west side of the field.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips met with athletic directors SMU's Damon Evans and Florida State's Michael Alford on the field before moving indoors to discuss options. The game resumed at around 8:40 p.m., allowing players a 10-minute warmup period. As the sun set, it was a surreal scene as the Seminoles and Mustangs waited for the ACC opener to commence.