Recruiting violation? Nope.
Arrested after a skirmish at a night club? Not a chance.
Kicked off the team for breaking team rules? Think again.
No, eight North Dakota State University football players got into trouble for a crime that people usually don't associate with the normal shenanigans of college athletes: election fraud.
Yes, you read that right. Election fraud.
The NDSU players were part of a group of eleven people that were paid to circulate petitions proposed on the upcoming November ballot. The group is accused of falsifying signatures that would have helped approve measures for a state conservation fund and a medical marijuana initiative. (Feel free to insert a pot joke here. I'll take the high road. Oh crap, I just made a pot joke, didn't I?)
Of the eight Bison players charged with election fraud, four of them are starters. Coach Craig Bohl has explained that all the players will be eligible for the upcoming game at Colorado State on Saturday and the school would wait to make any punishments until after the legal system has run its course.
The Bison are the defending FCS football champion, coming off a 14-1 campaign where they defeated Sam Houston State in the national championship last January.