That final-play Virginia Tech TD was doomed the moment the ESPN broadcast gave us the shot of the replay room at the ACC headquarters in Charlotte.
The replay review took several minutes, and as much as it seemed clear that what had been ruled a catch and touchdown on a Hail Mary pass from Kyron Drones to Da’Quan Felton was probably not a catch and touchdown – the pile of players fighting for the ball from both sides was egregiously out of bounds when the play was over, and the ball seemed to be moving around as Felton was falling to the ground – there was nothing near what you’d call conclusive evidence to what had happened from any of the available camera angles.
What is conclusive, though, is, the ACC, with a Miami loss, to a 2-2 Tech team with losses to Vanderbilt and Rutgers, would be left without a clearcut College Football Playoff contender.
Tech seemed to have the obvious advantage going into the review, in that the ruling on the field was catch and touchdown, so without conclusive video evidence, the catch and touchdown would have to stand.
Surprise: Jerry Magallanes, the referee, after the interminably long review, announced that the call had been overturned, allowing Miami to escape with the 38-34 win.
It wouldn’t be until 1:15 a.m., nearly two hours later, that the ACC would release a statement explaining the call.
“During the review process of the last play of the Virginia Tech at Miami game, it was determined that the loose ball was touched by a Miami player while he was out of bounds, which makes it an incomplete pass and immediately ends the play.”
If you see that here, good for you.
Called a TD on the field for Virginia Tech and overturned on review based on 🤷♂️ and Miami wins the game pic.twitter.com/tXnUaHDk2i
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) September 28, 2024
“I don’t know how that call gets overturned,” Drones told reporters after the game.
Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry, in his turn at the podium, seemed to struggle with straddling the line between what he wanted to say, and what he knew he could say without getting a fine and reprimand from the conference.
“That’s a tough one right there, the way the game ended,” a still-stunned Pry, obviously measuring his words, started his postgame presser. “I hope they got that call right, to take that, to overturn it and take it from our kids, our coaches, our fans. I hope they got it right.”
Now, to be fair, the game, the way it was playing out, should never have had to come to a final play. The Hokies (2-3, 0-1 ACC) forced three Hurricanes turnovers, all by Miami QB Cam Ward – including a first-quarter fumble that led to a Tech TD, and a second-quarter INT that led to another Hokies TD.
Virginia Tech, with all that help, led 21-14 just before halftime, and had the ball in plus territory looking to add to the lead, when Drones was sacked on a third-and-6 with 25 seconds on the clock.
Inexplicably, Pry called timeout, and then sent John Love in for a 57-yard field-goal try.
The kick was good, but there were still 20 seconds left on the clock, which was a factor with the next inexplicable move from Pry.
Instead of kicking deep, Pry ordered a squib kick, which Chris Johnson Jr. returned 34 yards, setting up the ‘Canes near midfield with 12 seconds left.
A pass-interference penalty got Miami into field-goal range, and Andres Borregales was good from 56 yards to get UM back to 24-17 at the break.
On the decision to use the timeout ahead of his own field-goal try, Pry conceded that he’d “like to have that back.”
“I’d bleed the clock down. I was upset about the sack. I’d want to bleed that down and kick it. That’s on me,” Pry said.
Curiously, the coach defended the squib kick.
“We’ve got to cover better,” Pry said. “It’s not something you practice as much, but they’ve got dangerous returners. And we could have taken a shot, kicked it out of the end zone, but then, you know, they’re still going to line up and have a couple plays, and seemed like a squib kick was the right thing at that time. We’ve just got to cover it better.”
The fact-check there is, Miami would have had one or two extra plays, but from a starting field position of the Miami 25, not the Miami 47.
Love added to the Tech lead with a 52-yard field goal on the Hokies’ first possession after halftime, making it 27-17, and then Ward threw his second pick of the night, on a second-and-6 at the Virginia Tech 24, which Kaleb Spencer returned 77 yards to set up Tech with the ball inside the red zone.
That opportunity to maybe put the game away fizzled out when Drones failed to connect with Benji Gosnell on a third-and-3 at the Miami 10, leading to another field-goal try, this one a chip shot that would have made it 30-17 Hokies.
Instead, Virginia Tech tried a fake, with holder Peter Moore shoveling a pass to tight end Harrison Saint-Germain, who was tackled immediately for a 1-yard loss.
Pry defended that move, like he did the squib kick.
“We didn’t come down here just to play it close, you know. I wanted to be aggressive with play calls and give us an opportunity to win the game,” Pry said. “We’ve practiced that for weeks, and it’s looked really good in practice, you know. They gave us the look we wanted. We could’ve called it off if they didn’t give us the look. And I thought Harrison gave great effort. They had a guy just get really good penetration on the snap, and that’s what kind of derailed it.”
So, that was three points off the board.
The timeout and squib kick before halftime put three points on the board for the other guys.
In a game that came down to Tech being down four with the ball in the final two minutes.
I don’t know why this is, but nobody asked Pry about another questionable move, which came on that final drive, that had started at the Tech 25 with 1:57 to go, and Pry having two timeouts at his disposal.
The first play was a 7-yard pass to Jaylin Lane, after which Drones hooked up with Stephen Gosnell for a 6-yard gain and a first down with 1:30 on the clock.
The next play was a Drones-to-Felton 4-yard pass play at the 1:08 mark.
The next snap led to a one-yard scramble by Drones, with the clock bled all the way down to 36 seconds, before Pry used his first timeout.
The clock management there had Tech gaining 17 yards on four plays with 1:11 coming off the clock.
That’s not how you run a two-minute offense when you need a TD to win it.
Pry used that final timeout that he still had in his pocket after a 12-yard Drones scramble that got the ball to the Miami 30 with three seconds left.
That’s just … unconscionably bad.
As was, to be fair, the overturned call on the Hail Mary.
Because as bad as Pry handled several key situations last night, including the final two minutes, there’s no way that call should have been overturned.
“Normally, when you look at something that long, it doesn’t get overturned,” Pry said, again, measuring his words, trying to avoid sanction.
“I didn’t think there was enough evidence to overturn it. So, like I said, I hope they, hope they got it right.”
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Chris Graham
