Idaho Football Says “No” To AI, Hires Local Artist To Paint Their “Game Week” Announcement

Quinn Eaton·
CULTURESPORTS
·
Idaho Vandals
Emma Cuddy

The Idaho Vandals football program is being praised online for doing one very simple thing: Prioritizing actual art over the use of artificial intelligence.

We’re now less than a week away from the return of gridiron action. College football gets things kicked off on August 29, and the NFL follows closely behind with the start of their season on September 9. Soon, Saturdays and Sundays will be wasted away by snacks, alcoholic beverages, sports betting, and around-the-clock football.

Move over Christmas… it’s the real “most wonderful time of the year.”

There’s no other way to put it: People love football. And this “Game Week” post from the Idaho football team proves that people also love genuine art. You’ve probably noticed that some programs have opted to mail it in and are now using AI instead of a graphic designer. All I’ll say is… it’s very noticeable – and very telling – when you see someone using artificial intelligence to build out graphics.

The Idaho Vandals saw that recent shortcut of a trend and decided to go the complete opposite direction. For the team’s social media announcing their first opponent of the year – the Cal Poly Mustangs – the Vandals program had Idaho painter Emma Cuddy help them out.

Cuddy painted a beautiful mural that featured Idaho quarterback Joshua Wood standing in front of a band of mustangs, and it acted as the official announcement graphic for the upcoming contest. It’s a real work of art, and thus, a real breath of fresh air when it comes to graphics:

I almost thought they just had the quarterback stand in front of the mural and took a picture… that’s how good of a job the local Idaho painter did with the mural.

I’m overjoyed to see a spotlight being shined on real art as opposed to AI slop, and it appears that social media users and football fans are in agreement. The Idaho Vandals football program has officially gone viral, and as surprising at it might sound in 2026, they didn’t even need AI to do it:

A beer bottle on a dock

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