While a weather delay held up opening-night proceedings at Memorial Stadium on Saturday evening, Nebraska associate athletic director for events Butch Hug was part of a large group trying to figure out what would happen next.
Thunderstorms in the area just would not relent – the 30-minute clock that started after each lightning strike within an 8-mile radius never even progressed 10 minutes without resetting and at one point there were more than 1,500 strikes within a 15-mile radius, according to Hug – and so contingency plans were begin discussed between Nebraska and Akron officials, the Big Ten office, the National Weather Service, Fox Sports and others.