Miami (Ohio) Gets Flagged for Fake Goalposts on Its Own Scoreboard

Miami (Ohio) tried to win a field goal with a picture of a field goal, and the officials flagged the picture. With six seconds left in the first half of Tuesday’s Battle of the Bricks at Yager Stadium, Ohio kicker Brack Peacock lined up for a 34-yard attempt with his team up 17-7, and the video board behind the real uprights lit up with images of more uprights. The kick hit the right upright and missed. Then came the flag, on Miami, for the scoreboard itself.

What did the scoreboard show?

Several sets of yellow goalposts, displayed on the giant video board directly behind the actual uprights while Peacock was lining up his kick. When the ESPN broadcast showed what was on the board inside Yager Stadium, the images were unmistakable: multiple field-goal posts, meant to be a distraction, USA Today reports. Peacock missed the 34-yard attempt from the left hash, and the officials, who had spotted the board, threw the flag before the half ended.

It was not a subtle trick. The board showed depictions of the uprights in the kicker’s eyeline, and the referee’s announcement made clear the officials had seen exactly what the home crowd had seen. Miami’s video-board operator had turned the stadium’s biggest screen into a second set of goalposts, and the penalty was assessed against the home team even though no player had committed an infraction.

What did the referee call?

Unsportsmanlike conduct, and he said so in the announcement. “On the previous play, there were depictions of the field-goal uprights on the scoreboard,” referee Rick Warne announced, Reuters reports. “That is a foul for unsportsmanlike conduct against Miami. Half the distance to the goal, automatic first down.” The penalty moved the ball nine yards, to the Miami 8-yard line, and gave Ohio a first down with only seconds left in the half.

The call rests on NCAA Rule 9-2-1, which says persons subject to the rules, including bands and audio, video and lighting systems operators, shall not create any noise or distraction that prohibits a team from hearing its signals or obstructs play, Reuters reports. The rule is written for exactly this situation: the people running the stadium are part of the game, and the board is part of the field.

What did Ohio do with the re-kick?

It turned the gift down and went for the touchdown, and dropped it. Instead of taking the closer field goal attempt, Ohio lined up for a fake, holder Magnus Haines spun out of position and launched a pass for defensive lineman Evan Herrman in the end zone, and Herrman dropped it, the Dispatch reports. The half ended 17-7, and Ohio did not score again all night. The trick had worked, the penalty had been called, and the team that benefited from both still came away with nothing.

That is the part of the sequence that makes it a MACtion classic rather than a simple controversy. Ohio had the re-kick, the first down and the momentum, and it chose the trick play over the three points. The drop ended the half, and Miami’s sideline, which had just been flagged for gamesmanship, watched the Bobcats hand the moment back.

Has a scoreboard been flagged before?

Yes, and the rule exists because of the last one. In 2020, Oklahoma State displayed a series of yellow lines on its scoreboard behind the goalposts to distract Texas kicker Cameron Dicker, USA Today reports, and video-board operators were written into the rulebook afterwards. Miami’s version was bolder than the original: full depictions of the uprights, shown on the board directly behind the real ones, rather than lines on the edge of the screen.

College football has seen stranger penalties than a flag on a scoreboard, but not many. A referee being suspended for grabbing a player, as covered in the desk’s Missouri referee story, and two onside kicks wiped out by penalties in the same Miami game are the recent company this one keeps, and both of those were called on people on the field. This one was called on a screen.

What happens next?

Miami moves on, and the trick is now a case study. The RedHawks scored 34 unanswered points after halftime, with quarterback Drew Bellisari passing for 99 yards and running for 64, the Dispatch reports, and the 34-17 win clinched bowl eligibility for a ninth straight season. Miami faces Kent State next Tuesday night, and the Mid-American Conference has a fresh example to show every video-board operator in the league: the board is part of the game, and showing the other team a second set of goalposts is a penalty, even when the kick misses anyway. Georgia and Alabama know the feeling of a game turning on one call, and College GameDay learned the same lesson about everything around the game mattering when a hurricane moved it indoors.