Georgia vs. Austin Peay lightning delay: When Bulldogs vs. Governors game will resume

Georgia‘s Week 2 game against Austin Peay has been suspended at halftime due to lightning in the area. The team announced the delay during the break.

Teams will be able to return to the field when there has been 30 minutes without a lightning strike detected within an 8-mile radius of the stadium. UPDATE, 5:40 p.m. ET: Georgia football has noted the game will resume at 6:02 p.m. ET, as long as there are no subsequent lightning strikes.

Georgia led 14-3 at halftime. The team had capitalized on a pair of 2-yard touchdown runs in the first half to build the lead.

The first came when Chauncey Bowens plunged in from two yards out to cap a 10-play, 80-yard drive in the middle of the first quarter. That made it 7-0 Georgia at the time.

Nate Frazier would add his own 2-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, finishing off a nine-play, 56-yard drive. That extended Georgia’s lead to 14-0.

But Austin Peay proved it wasn’t going away, quickly striking on an eight-play, 48-yard drive. The drive ended with a 44-yard field goal, cutting the deficit to 14-3. That was the score heading into the locker room before the weather delay.

Kirby Smart addresses crowds at Georgia

With a seating capacity of just over 93,000, Georgia‘s Sanford Stadium is hardly the SEC’s largest stadium. In fact, the nearly century-old complex originally opened in 1929, has undergone multiple expansions over the years to add more seating opportunities, including most recently in 2024.

But if Bulldogs fans — especially those in the usually crowded student sections — continue to show up only to exit early like many did in Saturday’s 45-7 rout of visiting Marshall, thus leaving noticably empty sections throughout much of the second half, don’t expect any commiseration from Georgia head coach Kirby Smart.

In fact, Smart — an alumnus and two-time All-SEC selection at safety in the late 1990s — believes true Bulldogs fans should not only ‘love’ to attend games at Sanford Stadium, no matter the competition, but should inherently want to stay through the final whistle much like his Georgia players do. And fans can forget about any added incentives for Saturday’s Week 2 home game against FCS Austin Peay.

“I don’t know that you incentivize the turnout. I don’t really believe in incentivizing things. I think it has to be a core DNA trait, a belief,” Smart said Tuesday during his weekly media availability. “You know, when we sell things as ‘I will do this if you do this’ and incentivize, I don’t think that’s great motivation. I think it’s intrinsic in who you are, I think people should love to (attend) a Georgia home game because there are only so many of them. There are limited opportunities.

“It’s the same thing with our players. We don’t incentivize them to run to the ball by saying we’ll go up in your NIL if you run to the ball. You’ve got to do it because you want to be great. You’ve got to do it because you want to be different. If our fans want to be great and different, then they’ll do it.”

On3’s Alex Byington also contributed to this report.