How long is a lightning delay in college football? NCAA rules and safety protocols explained

With stadiums hosting college football games around the United States, the weather can impact the action, and there are contingency measures in place for the safety of the players and fans, as well as guidelines for efforts to resume games as soon as possible.

The NCAA employs a flash-to-bang method to determine the distance between the stadium and the lightning flash.

How long is a lightning delay in college football?

Using the sound of thunder, it is determined if the 30-minute return to play time will be reset. However, once the game is in a lightning delay, the 30-minute time begins, but can be reset at any time if the storm continues to be within close proximity.

Former Florida Gators associate athletic director Chip Howard discussed the intricacies of a lightning delay:

"The lightning when it's 15 miles [away], we let the coaches know and the referee. And then when it hits eight miles, you're starting to doubt. That's the easy part of it. The hard part is trying to figure out and forescast, 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." H/t SB Nation

Which was the longest lightning delay in college football history?

Unfortunately, once a lightning delay is announced for a college football game, there is no telling if the game will resume within 30 minutes. The longest delay in a college football game was back in 2017 during a game between the TCU Horned Frogs and the Kansas State Wildcats.

The game was scheduled to kick off at 11:05 a.m. local time, but saw the lightning delay clock reset repeatedly. The game began at 2 p.m. but was once again halted due to a lightning delay during the fourth quarter. The overall delay totaled three hours. The game eventually ended at 6:15 p.m., more than six hours after the scheduled kickoff.