What Happened with Florida State's Cancellation

I'm going to be honest, I don't think I've ever been associated (and may never again be) with a game as bizarre as tonight's FSU-Savannah State contest.

After Florida State jumped out ahead a lightning delay came with about four minutes left in the second quarter. 

With another band of bad weather coming later in the evening, both SSU and FSU were looking at all contigencies during the first stoppage. Ultimately, at the discretion of FSU's athletic department, after contacting the ACC and the NCAA the schools first decided to reduce halftime to 10 minutes, and run the final 34 minutes of the game non-stop.

Essentially, a college football game started using Florida High School mercy rules because Savannah State bused it from Georgia, was out of the game already and wanted to make it home at a decent hour.

The second delay is what screwed everything up.

With 8:59 left in the third quarter officials once again asked players to go inside after lightning was again reported in the area. 

The decision was made to cancel the game outright after FSU consulted the NCAA about how exactly to conduct a cancellation without losing the results of the game.

Early this year, the FSU women's soccer team lead Marquette in a ranked matchup when a weather delay forced the cancellation of the game, the FSU women didn't get credit for the win and the game itself didn't even count.

The football team wanted to avoid that tonight.

Afterwards, Florida State released the following statement as an explanation of what exactly transpired:

"In light of the severe weather conditions that we have encountered throughout the evening and after consultation with officials from Savannah State, the ACC and the NCAA, we have determined it is best for us to terminate the game with a determined final score of 55-0 as it was when play was last suspended with 8:59 left in the third quarter. The game will be recorded as a completed game for statistical purposes."

The school also added the official NCAA policy, which reads as such:

If a contest does not reach its full conclusion but a winner and loser, or a tie are determined by the game officials and/or the competing institutions at the site in accordance with the rules of the game, then the win, loss, tie, score of the game and all individual and team statistics will count toward game, season, career and all-time totals. This does not include games declared by the game officials at the site as forfeited or determined as no contest. However, some forfeited games may count in individual and team statistics if the game had reached a reasonable of conclusion as stated in these policies. 

So there you have it. FSU beat Savannah State 55-0 in 36 minutes before some truly weird weather and timeframes forced one of the strangest conclusions to a game I've ever seen.

Keep checking back, I'll have lots headed your way in the aftermath of Florida State's blowout.

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Comments

[bubbleRefuge]

What does it mean to run the final 34 minutes of the game non-stop?

[Patrik Nohe]

It means that the clock winds at all times, even if the play ends out of bounds or in on an incomplete pass. It's typically only seen in high school games during blowouts and its done to try to get things done quickly and avoid any further injuries or embarrassment.

[james]

what does this mean for Vegas and that 70pt spread?