Sometimes, things can get wild on a Tuesday night in college football.

In a rivalry matchup between Miami (Ohio) and Ohio on Tuesday night, the RedHawks eventually claimed a 34-17 win to improve to 6-4 and 5th place in the MAC.

However, on its way to a win, Miami had one of the more bizarre penalties you'll see in college football, flagged for attempting to distract the opposing kicker with images of multiple uprights on the video board.

Here's a look at how Miami's attempt to rattle Ohio's kicker backfired with a penalty.

MORE: CFP rankings winners and losers for Week 11

Watch Miami (OH)’s attempt to distract kicker with video board backfire

In the final seconds of the first half between Miami and Ohio, Bobcats kicker Brack Peacock lined up to attempt a 34-yard field goal — and on his attempt, he missed off the right upright.

But after a flag was called, Ohio wound up retaining possession; Miami was called for unsportsmanlike conduct on the play, due to “depictions of the field goal uprights on the scoreboard."

A replay review showed Miami's video board displaying a few yellow uprights in the background of the real ones.

Never seen this call before 😭 Miami (Ohio) was called for a penalty for having too many field goal posts on the video board 😅 https://t.co/bRHZcpU8B7

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 11, 2026

Ohio went on to fake a field goal on the final play of the half, but punter Magnus Haines’ pass attempt was dropped.

Referee penalizes the scoreboard operator then Ohio got greedy with the second chance and failed https://t.co/GdnugU0rhM

— JM Football (@JomboyMediaFB) November 11, 2026

Per The Athletic, the play violated NCAA rule 9-2-1 under unsportsmanlike conduct.

“Persons subject to the rules, including bands and audio/video/lighting systems operators, shall not create any noise or distraction that prohibits a team from hearing its signals or obstructs play,” the rule says.

The penalty also comes after a recent memo from the NFL to its teams about similar video board tactics. A viral post early in the 2026 season showed how the Bill Belichick Patriots would allegedly use the video board to help throw off an opposing kicker — but the NFL urged teams to not attempt to do the same, stating teams must display the same images on video boards for both teams during kicks and cannot feature “flashing images, blinking effects, moving text/images, etc."

Much has been made of the Patriots’ mysterious “Pink Stripes.” How about yellow ones? I went through more than a decade of TV broadcasts and uncovered a diabolically clever piece of Patriots gamesmanship. When opposing kickers lined up at Gillette Stadium, the video board displayed a reverse view of the kick, placing a second, offset set of yellow uprights directly behind the real ones. In windy conditions, even the orange streamers on the video board appeared to point in the opposite direction from those atop the physical uprights, making the illusion even more disorienting. I found dozens of examples. In the same games, I reviewed 52 Patriots field goal attempts. The illusion appeared on Patriots kicks exactly zero times. We actually tried copying the idea when I was in Philadelphia, but the location of the video boards at Lincoln Financial Field made it nearly useless. It is the perfect encapsulation of the Patriots dynasty. No detail was too small, and no possible edge was left unexplored. We talked about this tactic and more on tonight’s episode of the Paganetti and Underhill show, out now on Youtube

— Ryan Paganetti (@RyanPaganetti) September 2, 2026

Regardless of the flag, Miami went on to win — but even the MAC sent a message to its teams about scoreboard operators trying to throw off opposing kickers. 

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