U.S. Senator Joni Ernst is blaming a staffer for tweeting congratulations to the Iowa Hawkeyes for their "big win" in the Big Ten championship Saturday night, even though it was a heartbreaking loss for the school.

"Sorry for staff error," Sen. Ernst later tweeted when her mistake went viral on social nets.

Sorry for staff error. @hawkeyefootball had a great season. Extraordinary effort tonight.

-- Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) December 6, 2015

Ernst also deleted the erroneous tweet, but of course this is not like President Nixon's White House tapes, in which the "smoking gun" could be erased. We have the screenshot.

Michigan State came from behind to upset Iowa 16-13 in the football contest. For all the latest on the NCAA's Big 10 Sports, bookmark our Big 10 East and Big 10 West Sections.