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The rivalry game paused in the first quarter, tied 0-0.
Michigan and Michigan State had their game delayed due to lightning in the first quarter on Saturday in East Lansing, after much pregame chippiness. It’ll return around 1:52 p.m. ET:
Spartan Stadium gates are open. The game will resume at approximately 1:52 p.m.
— Michigan State Football (@MSU_Football) October 20, 2018
In 2017, weather was a factor in MSU’s win in Ann Arbor. Mark Dantonio’s Spartans have owned the Wolverines, and their wins have tended to take on an ugly appearance. It’s extremely fitting — and for UM fans, probably scary — that this weather has visited East Lansing on this of all Saturdays. Given Michigan’s dangerous passing offense, bad weather seems like it should favor the Spartans as it so often has before.
How the weather radar looked around the time the delay was announced:
There’s been some snow in the area, too:
There’s lightning, rain *and* some snow here in East Lansing because Michigan pic.twitter.com/40r59fnFEf
— Detroit Free Press (@freep) October 20, 2018
The Spartans told fans they had to exit the stadium during the delay. Fans also exited the stadium during a long lightning delay at MSU’s game against Penn State in 2017. Michigan State came out after that delay and beat the Nittany Lions.
We’ll update this post as more information becomes available.
How weather delays work in college football
From SB Nation’s big explainer on the topic:
Staffers are monitoring weather throughout.
Former Florida associate AD Chip Howard was involved with the Gators’ lengthy Idaho game delay in 2014, due to lightning in the Gainesville area.
“The lightning when it’s 15 miles [away], we let the coaches know and the referee,” Howard said. “And then when it hits at eight miles, you’re starting to doubt. That’s the easy part of it. The hard part is trying to figure out and forecast, because you’ve got television, you’ve got two coaches that are intense and highly competitive, and you’ve got the fans to worry about, first and foremost. We have pretty precise protocols that we institute as soon as that happens. So, all that stuff just kind of happens by plan, what doesn’t happen is ‘OK how long is it going to be?’ Immediately when you have a lightning strike, it’s 30 minutes before you can resume play,” per NCAA rules.