UTEP football game goes into lightning delay; play to resume at 8:17 p.m.

For the second time in four years , a UTEP football home opener was delayed by lightning.

The ominous weather started rolling in 20 minutes before the scheduled 7 p.m. Sun Bowl kickoff, and at 7:35 p.m., with UTEP up 7-0 and 2:55 left in the first quarter, the game was stopped for the weather delay.

At 8:12 p.m., the teams began returning to the field and warming up with an announcement the game would resume at 8:17 p.m.

Under NCAA rules that are standard across most American sports, a lightning delay occurs when a lightning detector identifies a strike within eight miles of the venue. Every subsequent strike within that radius resets the clock.

The game went into delay about 10 minutes after the Locomotive game being played two miles away at Southwest University Park went into delay.