A FINE MESS ... THE REASONING FOR OVERTURNING APPARENT VICTORY BY HOKIES

 

If you believe in conspiracy theories, boy, did the All Coast 

… sorry, Atlantic Coast … Conference create one of its own 

Friday night … when Virginia Tech apparently scored the 

winning touchdown on the last play against seventh-ranked 

Miami, Fla., only “upon further review” had the decision on 

the field over-ruled. The unbeaten Hurricane survived 38-34 

… but except for a brief Q-and-A with Miami coach

 MARIO CRISTOBAL, ESPN made no attempt to give 

viewers any insight as to what we just saw. Instead, the 

network switched off to programming “already in progress” 

... leaving us with lots of questions, no answers … and 

thereby confused … almost as bewildered as Tech coach

 BRENT PRY appeared.

In case you missed it … Tech, a 17 1/2-point underdog, led 

21-14 at the half and by 10 (34-24) when Miami scored 

twice to move ahead with 1:56 left. At that point there was 

reason to believe the Hokies had been destined to lose … 

Otherwise, how to explain a fourth-and-three completion 

when the intended receiver for Miami tripped, fell and still 

managed to reach up and make the catch to keep the winning 

drive alive? Or minutes later, on third and seven, two Hokies 

had clean shots at QB CAM WARD for a sack and when 

both inexplicably failed, Ward seemingly was wrapped up 

… and still managed to deliver a two-handed, basketball-like 

pass to sophomore tight end RILEY WILLIAMS who had 

missed his block but got up off the ground to turn an 

innocent-bystander role into a 22-yard gain inside the Tech 

five … avoiding another missed tackle en route … “Another 

Heisman moment by Ward,” said ACCNetwork’s JUSTIN 

WALTERS later. Yeah right! … That set up what proved to 

be the winning TD pass from Ward to wide, WIDE open 

 ISAIAH HORTON.

Tech has won on the road against a top 10 opponent three 

times, the last at Ohio State in 2014 … For one brief 

moment, the Hokies thought they had done it again when, 

with three seconds left from the Miami 30, QB KYRON 

DRONES lofted a Hail Mary pass into the end zone … 

Seven players, four from Miami, leaped for the ball, tumbled 

to the ground near the baseline and then, what seemed like 

forever, the call was TOUCHDOWN TECH! … DA’QUAN 

FELTON apparently was credited with the reception 

although Miami’s TYLER ROWE came out of the pile with 

the ball and began running toward his teammates … to the 

temporary delight of a crowd of 59,539 … Naturally, the 

final play went under review, leading to another long delay 

during which we saw replays from every possible angle … 

none of which could/should/would have been enough to 

overturn the decision on the field. There was no indisputable 

evidence we could see that the call had been wrong. In fact, 

had they called the pass incomplete there was no

 indisputable evidence to change that either … “I don’t see 

anything clear and obvious to over-turn it,” said ESPN’s 

booth analyst ANDRE WARE… Nevertheless, the ACC 

control room in Charlotte, N.C., which had the final word, 

saw it differently. “It was so close, they could have called it 

either way [but] the replay booth said, ‘We have

 indisputable evidence that the receiver did not possess the 

ball securely when he came down,” said ACCN studio’s

 TREVOR MATICH. Come again?… Then, to really 

confuse things, the ACC office put out a release that said the 

touchdown was over-turned because, on review, “it was 

determined the loose ball was touched out of bounds by a 

Miami player which makes it an incomplete pass and 

immediately ends the play.” End of story.

Yeah, but about the conspiracy theory – what if? … What if 

the good folks in Charlotte, entrusted with coming up with a 

winner, based their decision on the reality of the situation ... 

“Hey, if Miami loses, it’s likely to cost us a lot of money 

down the road … and gosh knows we need it … as well as 

having a Heisman Trophy winner (Ward currently is the 

front runner, believe it or not) to brag on …? I know, I know, 

it’s far-fetched, unlikely ,,, and yet ...

Did Virginia Tech make Ward look ordinary, or was this just 

ONE OF THOSE GAMES? … Three turnovers including 

two interceptions on balls into coverage that ACCNetwork’s

 JUSTIN WALTERS blamed on “miscommunication” by 

the intended receivers … Ward’s fumble on the opening 

series led to the Hokies’ first TD … While we’re asking … 

how in the world could anyone get that excited about the 

Hurricanes, much less give them a top 10 vote … with 

terrible tackling like that? … Please, tell me, Miami didn’t 

take the Hokies lightly, did they?

Did you notice what Tech holder PETER MOORE did to 

allow JOHN LOVE to kick his second field goal, a 52 

yarder, to open the scoring in the second half? Better known 

as the Hokies’ punter, Moore turned a bad snap, high and 

wide, into an all-in-one-motion perfect placement. Earlier, 

Love hit one from 58 yards … with room to spare. Not that 

anyone should have been surprised. Last year the redshirt 

sophomore from Spartanburg, S.C., was 22 for 24 (91.7) … 

one of only two in the country to make more than 90 per 

cent of his kicks of 20 yards or more. He also was perfect on 

extra points, converting 47 of 47. 

Final thoughts and more: Miami should do Ward a favor and 

hire a speech therapist to work with him. He talks much too 

fast to be understood clearly during interviews … Drones 

and Ward are cousins … Cristobal really got after wideout

 JACOBY GEORGE, deservedly so, for spinning the ball 

after scoring a touchdown, leading to an unsportsmanlike 

conduct penalty on the ensuing kickoff … Tech had a 60-

yard run for six by PJ PRIOLEAU erased for holding by 

“My goodness,” said ESPN’s Ware after the replay showed 

the official was slow to throw the flag. “That looked like a 

good block to me.” … The Hokies overcame it on the same 

drive, Drones scrambling then finding AYDEN GREENE

 in the end zone from 16 yards with 12:05 remaining … and 

their second 10-point advantage … Miami TE CAM 

McCORMICK, who caught a six-yard touchdown pass to 

cut the deficit to 34-30 with 8:50 to go, is in his ninth 

collegiate season, second with the Hurricane. Starting in 

2016, he spent seven years with Oregon … but didn’t play in 

three and only appeared in a total of three games in two 

others. In 2022 McCormick suited up for 13 games and 

caught three TD passes from BO NIX, Denver’s top draft 

choice in 2024 and currently Broncos’ starter as a rookie.

 JUSTIN HERBERT was his first QB at Oregon. In all, 

McCormick has played in 47 games including 13 for Miami 

in 2023.

Until next time ...