The expanded College Football Playoff has come with some new quirks, one of the most noticeable being the redesigned scorebug.
ESPN’s new CFP scorebug has generally been well-received, with some exceptions, particularly when paired with the BottomLine. Another exception surfaced during Wednesday’s Peach bowl between Texas and Arizona State. The network featured Arizona State’s pitchfork logo on the scorebug, rendered in gold with a thin red outline against a subtle, two-toned gold background.
The problem?
It looked alarmingly like a penalty flag was thrown on nearly every play, except it wasn’t.
How many people are occasionally seeing ASU’s yellow graphic and thinking it’s a penalty flag? pic.twitter.com/EZk5Lx9kUO
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 1, 2025
You weren’t imagining things, nor were your eyes deceiving you — it was a widespread issue that was a problem for just about everybody.
I’ve thought this on probably 75% of the plays run in this game… #PeachBowl https://t.co/jhIsAy4TPR
— Sam Franco (@samjfranco) January 1, 2025
Every play. https://t.co/a7m6HTMj3z
— Ryan (@Isley23) January 1, 2025
Was literally thinking this earlier 😭 https://t.co/DIWmUuW9VN
— 🐊Knuth🐊 (@KnuthDaddy) January 1, 2025
All of us! https://t.co/yWLx8kFpJy
— Shaun Kernahan (@ShaunKernahan) January 1, 2025
@espn can you not make the Arizona state yellow part of the scoreboard. Looks like a flag has been thrown every time I look up at the TV
— HipsterHarden (@HipsterHarden) January 1, 2025
I keep thinking there is a flag on every play because of the yellow Arizona state graphic on the score bug
— Tony Roundtree (@Tonywithyy) January 1, 2025
Anyone else watching this game think that the Arizona State logo looks like a flag? Shit hooks me on every play 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/ghEDvkgg8D
— Nate in Appleton (@NateAndree) January 1, 2025
@espn you gotta change the score bug color for Arizona state logo….keeps looking like a flag. TIA.
— Cam Longmire (@camslongmire) January 1, 2025
– @bhofheimer_espn can y’all please take away the yellow on the Arizona State score bug? I think there’s a flag every play. @ESPNPR
— Daniel Scroggins (@palmbeachd) January 1, 2025
This issue isn’t limited to Arizona State, either.
Any team with yellow or gold hues in their branding seems to get caught in the same scorebug confusion. And with the referees already part of nearly every conversation, it’s easy to see why viewers might start thinking every play is a penalty when, in reality, it’s just a design flaw.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.