UCLA has already named Brett Hundley as their starting quarterback for the upcoming football season, but they may have to consider a switch based on a report from The Associated Press.
A mistake by the AP resulted in a fake story being released across the wire and published by several newspaper and television websites on Monday. The headline for the story says “Bruins stun Oregon 21-20,” and the intro paragraph reads:
PASADENA, Calif. – Bob Jones threw three touchdown passes, including the game-winner with 10 seconds left, as UCLA stunned Oregon 21-20 on Saturday night.
As Deadspin aptly points out, looks like “Bob Jones” is the early Heisman Trophy favorite.
Many websites publish AP stories automatically, so the UCLA-Oregon fake result ended up on several prominent newspaper sites, including The New York Times:
Although this was obviously a mistake — and probably a story run as a test because the college football season is starting this week — I’m sure UCLA fans didn’t mind experiencing what it felt like to actually beat Oregon for a change; the Bruins have lost four straight to the Ducks, including a 49-31 loss in the Pac-12 championship game last year, and a 60-13 drubbing the season before. The teams aren’t scheduled to play each other unless they rematch in the conference title game again.
The comforting takeaway is that at least ESPN and NBA.com have some company when it comes to publishing content prematurely.
