If you’ve ever watched a football game, you’ve probably seen the classic “icing the kicker” tactic. This involves calling a timeout right before the kicker attempts a field goal or extra point, forcing them to wait a little longer and hopefully increasing their nerves. But during Friday’s matchup between the Columbia Lions and the Yale Bulldogs at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium, Columbia’s football team took a creative approach to disrupt the opposing kicker’s focus.
In Columbia’s 13-10 victory over Yale, they unveiled an unusual strategy that may have been even more effective than a simple timeout. The Lions decided to use a bit of humor to mess with Yale’s kicker, Nick Conforti, in what could become a legendary moment in Ivy League football.
The incident happened in the second quarter, right after Yale scored a touchdown to take a 6-3 lead over Columbia. As Conforti jogged onto the field to attempt the extra point, Columbia had a little surprise in store.
Instead of a traditional icing tactic, they flashed a massive image on the stadium’s jumbotron—an image of the much-ridiculed and hilariously infamous Dwyane Wade statue, which has been the target of widespread mockery on social media in recent weeks.
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The Dwyane Wade statue, which many fans have criticized for its questionable resemblance to the basketball star, has become a running joke in the sports community.
And Columbia decided to capitalize on that hilarity by displaying the statue at just the right moment to throw Conforti off. The idea seemed to be to distract the kicker by giving him something unexpected and comical to look at—something that might just get into his head as he prepared to kick.
The tactic was a creative and amusing attempt to throw off the opposing player, and the clip of Columbia’s effort quickly made its way around social media, earning a lot of laughs and praise from fans. It was an ingenious move that showcased the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that can make college football so entertaining.
By leveraging humor and a bit of psychological warfare, Columbia may have pioneered a new movement for distracting kickers.
Ultimately, the Lions managed to secure a 13-10 victory over the Bulldogs, improving their record to 5-2 for the season while Yale fell to 4-3. Whether or not the display of the Dwyane Wade statue played a significant role in the outcome of the game, it certainly added an element of entertainment to the proceedings. Fans couldn’t help but appreciate Columbia’s inventive approach to gaining a competitive edge.
Columbia’s use of the statue was a reminder that football is not only about brute strength and strategy, but also about creativity and seizing every opportunity—even the unconventional ones—to gain an advantage.
And while there’s no guarantee that this kind of tactic will become a staple of college football games, it certainly made for a memorable moment that fans are likely to talk about for a long time.
For Columbia, it was a well-deserved win, and for Nick Conforti and the Yale Bulldogs, it was a lesson in expecting the unexpected. Who knows—perhaps other teams will be inspired by Columbia’s ingenuity and bring their own creative distractions to future games.
In any case, Columbia’s use of the Dwyane Wade statue in an attempt to distract a kicker is sure to be remembered as one of the more entertaining moments of this college football season.
