American football currently – happy ending for Hurricanes

Happy ending for Hurricanes

The Miami Hurricanes escaped with a scare on Friday. Against Virginia Tech, the seventh in the current AP Top 25 turned around a game in which it was down by ten points three times with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and won 38:34. It was not an undeserved victory, but at the same time it was a lucky one because it was only achieved after minutes of reviewing the last scene of the game, including revising the referee’s original decision. But Miami shouldn’t have complained if the referees had stuck with their decision – touchdown Virginia Tech – which would have resulted in a 40:38 win for the Hokies. The team showed their greater quality against their opponents again and again and often enough in the end, but overall, as head coach Mario Cristobal put it immediately after the end of the game, they played too sloppy for long stretches. The guests could have avoided the big drama at the end if their coaches had made a different decision in a key scene of the game.

The dramatic end came when Virginia Tech, following Miami’s touchdown, made it 38:34 (1-yard pass from QB Cameron Ward to WR Josh Horton) in nine plays in the remaining two minutes to get to Miami’s 30. yard line. With only three seconds left to play, the Hokies’ only option was a Hail Mary pass in the end zone. At the back of the end zone, four Hurricanes players and two Hokies players jumped up to catch and defend the ball, respectively. When the bunch of players fell to the ground, Miami’s Tyler Rowe had the ball in his hands. Huge celebration from the Hurricanes. However, the referee chose Virginia Tech for the touchdown because WR Da’Quan Felton finally caught the ball. Huge cheers now for the Hokies. The scene was reviewed for minutes, then the referee reversed her decision to an incomplete pass. Most of the shots in the TV imagery actually show that Felton never really had control of the ball and therefore, as the rules say, didn’t fully complete the catch. However, there was a brief moment where you couldn’t see the ball, so Felton may have actually had control of it at that moment. Since the rules require that incontestable visual evidence must be available in order to revise the original decision, one could have or even should have stuck with the original decision – even if the decision on an incomplete passport was probably correct in the matter.

It was also unfortunate that the referees immediately only announced the decision that the pass was incomplete and did not provide an explanation for their decision until later. According to reports, the decision was made because the ball was first touched by a Hurricanes player who was already out of bounds. In that case the game would have ended at that moment and everything that happened afterwards was no longer relevant. But the TV pictures didn’t show that at all. The only Hurricanes player to score was CB Mishael Powell, who was just out of bounds on his right foot before jumping. But he didn’t touch the ball at all. The first player to touch the ball was Felton, the first Hurricanes player was Rowe, and both landed their butts in the end zone, not outside. In any case, a maximally unfortunate ending for Virginia Tech.

The game was characterized by ball losses and big plays on both sides. Virginia Tech scored the touchdown to make it 7-0 three plays after a fumble by Ward at its own 31-yard line and to make it 14-14 with a 55-yard run by RB Bhayshul Tuten three plays after an interception at its own 3 -yard line with a 33-yard return, Miami made it 14-7 with a 43-yard pass from Ward to TE Elijah Arroyo three plays after an interception in the middle of the field. There were also three field goals from the two kickers that were more than 50 yards long. Another big play, a 77-yard interception return to Miami’s 17-yard line, led to the second key scene mentioned above in the third quarter, with the score 27:17 for Virginia Tech. After two unsuccessful passes and a 7-yard run by Tuten, Virginia Tech lined up for a field goal attempt, but did not shoot and tried a short pass from holder Peter Moore on the back of the line to Harrison Saint running right to left Germain to score a touchdown. Miami thwarted that. This had consequences in terms of the end, because in the event of a successful short field goal, another field goal was enough for the Hokies to win. But the decision was also immediately tactically unanswerable because, with the score then 30:17, Miami needed two touchdowns to win instead of a touchdown and a field goal to equalize. Well, Miami ended up scoring two touchdowns anyway, but there was no way to know that at the time.

High – September 28, 2024

Head coach Mario Cristobal narrowly avoided defeat with his Miami Hurricanes against Virginia Tech.