ESPN's Acting Like It Was Scammed Into Broadcasting Terrible Ohio HS Football Team Vs. IMG Academy

Why was an Ohio online-only charter school that's not affiliated with the Ohio High School Athletic Association, and in existence since 2019, playing IMG Academy on ESPN Sunday afternoon from Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio when ESPN should've been showcasing one of the best teams in Ohio vs. IMG Academy? That's a very good question that someone needs to answer.

ESPN's broadcast team was asking questions midway through the second quarter of today's 58-0 thumping at the hands of IMG. The play-by-play guy knew they had been duped. Color analyst Tom Luginbill was so disgusted by what he saw on the field, he was tweeting that Bishop Sycamore is a "scam" after the game due to the fact that the coach told ESPN that the team featured several D-I recruits.

Let's go to the second quarter and Luginbill saying how concerned he was over someone getting hurt.

Now, here's where things get interesting. Did ESPN bother researching Bishop Sycamore? Did they open MaxPreps and take a look at Sycamore's 2020 season where they were thumped 56-6...by IMG? Did anyone at that network bother to look into the school to learn that BISHOP SYCAMORE HAS FIVE WINS IN SCHOOL HISTORY?

DID ANYONE AT ESPN BOTHER TO RESEARCH TO THE POINT WHERE THEY LEARNED BISHOP SYCAMORE WAS OUTSCORED...227-42 in 2020?

We can say that ESPN was duped, but this screams pure incompetence.

High school football insiders believe a third-party game broker went out and found IMG an opponent to fill a slot that included an ESPN broadcast. The theory is that Bishop Sycamore's coach went used-car salesman on the third-party, who then sold Bishop Sycamore to ESPN's high school broadcast executives.

The rest is history.

Here's reportedly how the sausage is made:

Now, it's entirely possible someone at ESPN knew Bishop Sycamore was a joke. And it's entirely possible ESPN didn't care how bad Bishop Sycamore is on the field. They just needed warm bodies to get blown out by IMG to fill a TV broadcast. It's also possible Luginbill and his partner researched the Ohio online charter school and knew what was coming only to act like they were duped.

This story gets even crazier. It appears Bishop Sycamore played a game Friday night in Pennsylvania and then played Sunday against IMG.