College football fans were supposed to be watching Florida State and SMU on Monday night.
Instead, plenty of them found themselves watching Taylor McGregor.
The ESPN sideline reporter found herself in the middle of one of the strangest broadcasts of the young college football season after a power outage at Doak Campbell Stadium delayed the Florida State-SMU game for nearly two hours.
With the stadium operating with limited technology, McGregor became one of the key sources of information for viewers watching at home.
And, naturally, the internet noticed.
McGregor handled the bizarre situation like a veteran. She reported from the sideline while the teams waited to see whether the game could even be played. The eventual kickoff came at 9:15 p.m. ET with no scoreboard, no public-address system and limited communication technology.
It was an unusual night for college football.
It was also a pretty good introduction for anyone who somehow had not discovered McGregor yet.
She has been with ESPN since 2019, but this was the kind of national television moment that can turn a familiar face into the internet’s latest favorite.
College football fans may have tuned in for Florida State and SMU.
They left talking about Taylor McGregor.
