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A band of storms throughout the Midwest cancelled the end of one game, postponed another and caused delays in other matchups.
Michigan and Western Michigan agreed to end their game Saturday late in the third quarter after a second delay due to lightning, giving Brady Hoke a 34-10 victor in his debut.
''It was kind of wild,'' Hoke said. ''Wet and wild.''
Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon said the lopsided score played a part in ending the game early.
At Notre Dame Stadium, in South Bend, Ind., a tightly contested game was disrupted for hours by storms and ended a minute shy of 6 hours with South Florida upsetting the 16th-ranked Irish 23-20.
Michigan and Notre Dame Stadium, along with Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa, were evacuated during their games.
The Hawkeyes beat Tennessee Tech 34-7.
In South Bend, with the fans getting restless as the teams left the field for halftime and lightning flashing near the stadium, officials asked fans to evacuate the and decided to keep the teams in their locker rooms. And they stayed there for 2 hours, 10 minutes.
With 4:21 to go, the game was delayed a second time by severe weather, this time for 43 minutes.
At Michigan Stadium, fans were encouraged to leave the stadium during a heavy downpour with strong winds and lightning, but it was not evacuated during the first of two delays. Tens of thousands of fans in Ann Arbor waited out the weather as the Big House was mostly full when the game resumed about 30 minutes later in the third quarter.
Later in the same quarter, lightning strikes in the area stopped the game for a second and final time.
Michigan officials say the temperature on the field was 137 degrees at kickoff and fell to 84 degrees following the first delay.
In nearby Ypsilanti, Eastern Michigan postponed its game from Saturday night to Sunday at noon EDT.
