USC fans were caught off guard, as were college football fans, during the broadcast of the Alamo Bowl game on Thursday night between Arizona and Oklahoma.
ESPN, which broadcast the game, posted an on-screen graphic which said that Will Howard, the Kansas State transfer, had committed to USC.
That is, of course, empirically untrue. Howard, as of Friday night, had not yet committed to USC, or Ohio State, or anyone.
Speculation has run rampant about Howard and his status, but he had not committed to USC as of Thursday night.
ESPN making an error this large might not surprise some people, but it certainly surprised most television viewers. Reactions poured in after seeing this errant graphic. You can only begin to imagine how much this stirred up people’s emotions, at USC and elsewhere: