VIDEO: Miami of Ohio Penalized for Fake Goalposts on Scoreboard

Miami of Ohio University’s RedHawks football team was hit with a strange penalty in their game against Ohio University’s Bobcats on Tuesday over something the RedHawks’ scoreboard operator did during one of Ohio’s field-goal attempts. The scoreboard operator must have thought he had a clever way to confuse Ohio kicker Brack Peacock, who stepped up to attempt a field goal at the end of the first half at Miami’s Yager Stadium in Oxford. As Peacock wound up for his kick, just behind the field goal, Miami’s scoreboard operator threw up an image of multiple uprights, giving Peacock more than half a dozen poles to aim at. It isn’t clear whether the trick worked, but Peacock did miss the goal. The dirty trick, though, cost the team, as after the kick failed, the refs stepped in and handed Miami a penalty. “On the previous play, there were depictions of the field goal uprights on the scoreboard. That is a foul for unsportsmanlike conduct against Miami. Half the distance to the goal, automatic first down,” the officials said. WATCH: Another view of the scoreboard dirty trick made it even more explicit how the image on the screen just might have caused a problem for the kicker: In the end, though, the RedHawks still won the game with a 34-17 final. This was not the first time a scoreboard operator has deployed the multiple uprights video trick. A similar ruse was perpetrated by Oklahoma State back in 2020 in a game against Texas, according to Yahoo Sports. In that case, though, Texas kicker Cameron Dicker made his points, anyway. Follow Warner Todd Huston Facebook at: Facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston, or at X/Twitter @WTHuston