The USC Trojans and Purdue Boilermakers were supposed to kick off their Big Ten opener at Ross-Ade Stadium at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. Lightning in the area had a different plan.
The stadium was evacuated because of the weather with safety concerns. Standard protocol for lightning includes a 30-minute delay after each lightning strike within 10 miles of the stadium. Each subsequent strike resets that clock.
So the earliest USC and Purdue might have gotten going was 3:50 p.m. ET. But that was by no means an official start time, because the lightning had more to say.
USC vs. Purdue weather delay updates
UPDATE 6:00 p.m. ET: An official start time is set! The game will now kick off at 6:45 p.m. ET.
UPDATE: kickoff is now scheduled for 3:45 pm PT on CBS ✌️ https://t.co/ryN2RrQMlD
— USC Football ✌️ (@uscfb) September 13, 2025
UPDATE 4:45 p.m. ET: The clock reset again at 4:30 p.m. ET. Assuming they give the teams time to warm back up, this game will have to wait until after 5 p.m. ET to begin.
More lightning here. Rain still coming down hard. Press box out of food. Chaos! pic.twitter.com/MF7lu4Gd7U
— Ryan Abraham (@insidetroy) September 13, 2025
UPDATE 4:30 p.m. ET: Don't expect this thing to clear up until closer to 5 p.m. ET
Notice being shown in the stadium now: pic.twitter.com/yT8J6UtS3z
— Shotgun Spratling (@ShotgunSpr) September 13, 2025
According to USC team reporter Keely Eure, another lightning strike reset the clock, pushing a potential start time out to 4:20 p.m. ET.
We just had another lighting strike here in West Lafayette - which resets the clock on the delay.
— Keely Eure (@keelyismyname) September 13, 2025
Earliest restart time would be 4:20 ET plus whatever warmup time both teams have agreed to.
We'll keep you updated as the weather sorts itself out in West Lafayette. For now, we wait.
USC has not had a great time on the road in the last decade. It's been more than 10 years since they won in eastern time. While traveling east wasn't the most necessary thing in the days of the Pac-12, the road struggles got much worse in the Big Ten. The Trojans lost all three of their trips away from the Pacific Time Zone. That included defeats at Michigan, Minnesota and Maryland.
The Trojans get their Big Ten road slate started at Purdue, a 20-point underdog. Put simply, Lincoln Riley will have trouble on his hands if he can't buck the road trends in this one. A delay normally wouldn't help the vibes, but Trojan fans may be heartened to know that history favors them on this one. The last time a USC game was delayed by lightning was in 2012 against Syracuse. The Trojans won that game 42-29. Shocking as it may be, that was also the last time USC won a game in the Eastern Time Zone...