Seriously? NC State’s Huge New Video Board Hit By Thunderstorm During Home Opener

It was a heartbreaking weekend for many of North Carolina's college football teams. The Charlotte 49ers couldn't hang on to win against Maryland. The App State Mountaineers probably feel like they were robbed by the Tar Heels. And the ECU Pirates had a rough outing against Marshall. But no one could have felt worse over the weekend than the folks who manage NC State's Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.

In addition to delaying numerous college football games on Saturday, the storms that rolled through the state of North Carolina also put the hurt on a seriously expensive TV. This season, NC State unveiled a brand new $15-million scoreboard in Carter-Finley Stadium. The 7,121-square-foot video board is the 11th largest in all of college football, according to USA Today. Apparently, Mother Nature was not impressed.

One quarter into the NC State's home opener against Notre Dame on Saturday, a thunderstorm caused the scoreboard to short out, leaving a glitched video display. The initial theory was that it was struck by lightning, but the school says that didn’t happen. The video board was mostly working after the storm delay, but it will have to be checked out to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

This is like driving a brand new car off the lot and immediately getting into a wreck, only much pricier. To make matters worse, the Wolfpack was trounced by Notre Dame, 45-24. They play VMI at Carter-Finley Stadium this coming Saturday (9/16). Hopefully for NC State, everything is working the way it should. CBS Sports Senior Writer Will Brinson posted this video of the storm-battered scoreboard:

Well, we have made it folks. We have made it! College football is finally here and it is undisputably my favorite part of fall. There is nothing better, than the passion, the rivalries, and the gameday outfits. Turning on College GameDay on a Saturday morning (when it's an away game of course because you better believe I'm at every home game). The band, cheerleaders, and dance team are just some of what makes college football the best sport in my opinion.

ESPN compiled a list of all 133 FBS teams and ranked them in different tiers ahead of the season. But these aren't your typical 1-133 rankings. Because honestly, those preseasons mean nothing. It's the end of the season when I want my team to be ranked. So instead these range from tier 1 (yes, them again) to tier 20 (told you it could be worse). Other interesting tiers include "kinda, sorta, maybe" and "so hot right now".

There are 7 major North Carolina college football teams. Duke, NC State, Wake Forest, and UNC are all in the ACC.  Some with high expectations and others with basically zero expectations. Appalachian State is in the Sun Belt and East Carolina and Charlotte are both in the American Conference. There are some returning coaches and superstar players with high expectations amongst these teams. There are also teams with new coaches or who are starting over at key positions with a lot of unknowns.

So take a look at each of these major North Carolina college football teams and what ESPN thinks about their upcoming season. Each team is listed in alphabetical order (to take out my admitted bias). You can read the full tiers list of every Division 1 team via ESPN here.

Tier 11: They're frisky enough to pull a surprise. Joined by several other teams in their conference App makes the "they could be overlooked and win a game" class. And that is something the Mountaineers have been known to do. ESPN put 11 teams in this tier- Air Force, Army, Coastal Carolina, FAU, Fresno State, Georgia Southern, James Madison, Marshall, North Texas, Ohio, San Diego State, and Western Kentucky.

Tier 20: Told you it could be worse. ESPN doesn't have high hopes for this team that honestly I forgot was even D1. New coach Biff Poggi has created an interesting stir around Charlotte, but will he win on the field? Joining UNCC in this worst of the worst tier are Akron, FIU, Hawaii, Kent State, New Mexico State, Texas State, and UMASS.

Tier 6: Something good to watch before basketball season. Duke has been above average at some points in football, but they will always be a basketball school.

Tier 16: They probably won't be awful. I mean, I guess that's something to be proud of? Joining ECU in this category are Buffalo, Louisiana, Louisiana Tech, Miami (Ohio), Northern Illinois, Old Dominion, Tulsa, Utah State, and Wyoming.

Tier 3B: Teams that should prevent a lot of points from being scored. This tier included 6 teams with anticipated impressive defenses- NC State, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Pitt.

Tier 3A: Teams that should score a bunch of points. In contrast, these 4 teams including UNC behind Drake Maye, are expected to have high-powered offenses. Other teams in this tier are Arkansas, Ole Miss, and TCU.

Tier 6: Something good to watch before basketball season. It will be interesting to see how Wake Forest fares without quarterback Sam Hartman. Unlike Duke who is also in this tier, I also don't think of Wake as a basketball school. But ESPN but them in this tier along with Duke, Kansas, Maryland, Syracuse, and UCLA.