A major thunderstorm moving through the Norman, Okla., area will delay the kickoff time of Saturday's game between No. 3 Ohio State and No. 14 Oklahoma until 9 p.m. EDT.
Lighting strikes were seen in the vicinity of Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium about 30 minutes before the scheduled 7:30 EDT start time.
As of 7:19 p.m. EDT, students who arrived early to stake out spots in the non-reserved sections had refused to move despite several announcements on the public address system to take cover. A minute later, a driving rain began, but most remained, cheering and waving white pompoms.
Fans finally started to evacuate about 7:30 p.m. EDT. Some waited out the rain at the top of the lower deck under the overhang.
It was only the third meeting between the schools and the first since 1983.
In the last matchup, coach Earle Bruce directed No. 6 OSU to a 24-14 upset of No. 2 Oklahoma in Norman. Tight end John Frank, playing on Yom Kippur, recorded 108 yards receiving and two touchdows from quarterback Mike Tomczak and OSU held star OU running back Marcus Dupree to 30 yards on the ground. He suffered a bruised knee with nine minutes left in the first half.
OU won 29-28 in Columbus in 1977 on Uwe Von Schamann's 41-yard field goal in the final seconds.