One Of ESPN's "Hot Topics" Is A Football Game That Does Not Exist

Midway through tonight’s Russell Athletic Bowl, ESPN’s Mike Patrick introduced a sponsored segment intending to highlight the biggest stories in college football. One of these, strangely, was a game that did not happen.

“Boise held Northern Iowa to 31 total yards...” went the copy, and the fullscreen matched Patrick’s words. Except Boise State didn’t play Northern Iowa in last week’s Poinsettia Bowl, because Northern Iowa is not an FBS team. Boise trounced Northern Illinois, which is a different college in a different state (and is NIU, compared to the FCS school UNI).

This isn’t just a graphics mix-up; whoever prepared this segment clearly believed it was Northern Iowa—which, again, is an FCS school—that played Boise State (note the reference to “Panthers,” not “Huskies”). This blunder somehow made it past a few people’s eyes before reaching the air!

(And, yes, BSU has played UNI, once: in 2000, when the Broncos beat the Panthers 42-17.)

[ESPN]

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