Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst tweeted her congratulations to the Iowa Hawkeyes football team on their "big win" Saturday night — except the team lost to Michigan State.
"Congrats @hawkeyefootball on the big win! #big10 #B1GFCG #iowa," the tweet, which has since been deleted, initially read.
Image via Twitter @PTNetherton
The tweet was published around the same time as the game ended — with the No. 5 Spartans beating the No. 4 Hawkeyes 16 to 13 in the Big Ten Championship game. According to the Des Moines Register, the tweet was deleted approximately 10 minutes later.
In a subsequent tweet from Ernst's account, the erroneous tweet was blamed on a "staff error."
Sorry for staff error. @hawkeyefootball had a great season. Extraordinary effort tonight.
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) December 6, 2015