In one of the most thrilling finishes to a college football game you’ll ever see, Miami defeated Duke 30-27 on the final play that included eight laterals over the span of 49 seconds that at one point brought them back to their own three-yard line.
However during the course of the play, there were multiple instances that could have negated the winning touchdown and continue to rally Blue Devil fans under the banner that they were screwed out of a conference win.
First, was one of the Miami special teams players in possession of the ball down during the play? The referees took a considerable amount of time to review the play after it was initially determined that he wasn’t down. The officials came back after the review upholding the original no call and that touchdown would stand.
As you can see it was incredibly close but given our vantage point you really can’t say definitively that he was actually down.
You can also see an official was right on top of the play.
Aside from the questions of a down player, the officials did call a block in the back which would have resulted in a 10-yard penalty and wiped out touchdown. But like the no downed player the refs eventually determined too that the block in the back was actually a ‘block from the side’ a legal play meaning the touchdown stood and the game was over.
As it would appear the only play that was reviewed was whether or not the player was down prior to the block in the back which is a reviewable play. The block in the back isn’t a reviewable play but can be overturned if the officials determine on the field that no foul actually took place which is what appeared happened.
If the officials made a bad call regarding the block in the back or the downed player is always going to be argued. However the sequence of review and picking up the flag was all within the realm of authority by the refs. Outside of that it would appear the only thing the refs really did wrong was doing a terrible job relaying their decision to the Duke coaches and crowd still in attendance.
So there you have it, we have our modern day Cal-Stanford finish sans the band running out on the field.
h/t: For the Win
