Behind The Final Play: Hokies Would-Be Walk-Off Turns To All-Time Devastation In 38-34 Loss To No. 7 Miami

Carter Hill

Sports Director

September 27, 2024

Virginia Tech's game-winning Hail Mary was overturned in Virginia Tech's loss to No. 7 Miami. (Keegan deBernard/Virginia Tech Athletics)

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – 6:09. That’s all it took for Virginia Tech’s (2-3, 0-1 ACC) pure elation to turn to devastation after the Hokies’ would-be walk-off Hail Mary as time expired was rescinded for an incomplete pass in Friday night’s 38-34 loss to No. 7 Miami (5-0, 1-0) at Hard Rock Stadium.

It’s almost impossible to fathom. Tech went from securing its highest-ranked road win in the history of the program, to being snarled at by ACC officials who ruled in favor of the league’s only top-10 member on its home turf. 

Now, I’m not buying that the officiating crew actually sided with the Hurricanes just to protect the conference’s potentially only precious title contender – but the conspiracy theories are now out there, and they won’t be going away anytime soon. 

Why? Because the play – a Kyron Drones prayer towards the back of the end zone reeled in by Da’Quan Felton over a slew of Miami defenders – was initially ruled a touchdown. And despite – to some –  concrete, clear-cut evidence that the ball was indeed moving, the ACC’s command center in Charlotte opted to change the call on the field, reversing the game-winner and subsequently altering the contest’s result on the game’s final play.

“I hope they got that call right,” Tech third-year head coach Brent Pry said. “To overturn it and take that from our kids, our coaches, our fans. I hope they got it right.”

The ACC’s response:

"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,” the conference said in a statement to ESPN’s Andrea Adelson. 

I’m not going to lie, I don’t know if I fully buy that one. It took 6:09 to review the play – you’re telling me it took that amount of time to find the evidence needed to overrule the call on the field? To be frank, that’s a little lengthy for a call to be reversed.

Again, for a play to be overturned, doesn’t it have to be  “indisputable video evidence?” I’m not really sure there was such when glancing back at the replay. 

“I don’t know how that call gets overruled,” Drones said. “I don’t know how they made that decision. … I don’t know how that happens. Probably just because we played here.”

To be totally truthful, with a scrum for the football and a pile of humanity covering up the back of the end zone – all while the Hard Rock lights flickered in celebration after a Miami defender came away from the ball – I’m not quite sure how they ruled it a catch.

However, I also, despite the explanation, can not properly digest how the call was overturned. Both things can be true. I’m not entirely sure it was a touchdown – but I’m also not entirely sure how the command center can take over six minutes to determine that it wasn’t.

All of a sudden, Virginia Tech went from complete mayhem after a touchdown was ruled by referee Jerry Magallanes – not once, but twice – to the ACC coming up with the decision to alter the finality of the game with an inconclusive verdict to cap off a hypnotizing type of night in South Florida. 

The Hokies had littered the field. The Hurricanes had collapsed in disarray – all for all of that to turn on a dime based on a decision made by individuals that sat over 700 miles away.

“It was an emotional roller coaster,” running back Bhayshul Tuten said. “Honestly, I was just sitting there not saying much, not saying anything at all, just hoping that it was a touchdown. … Just soaking it all in, nobody likes to lose, I don’t like to lose and I know us as a team doesn’t like to lose. 

“So just soaking in that moment, that feeling, how we felt tonight, just wanting to never feel like that again I think is the biggest thing I took away from the ending.”

All the waiting, all the anxiety, all for naught. The Hokies went from taking out the No. 7 team in the country, to starting 0-1 in ACC play and are staring their 2-3 record right in the face. 

It’s a finish that’ll be talked about in Blacksburg until maybe the end of time, in a game that seemed timeless in a reigniting of the Miami-Virginia Tech rivalry in the best possible way. 

Somehow, the infamous Danny Coale situation in the 2012 Sugar Bowl may have finally been one-upped, as the Hokies saw the exhilaration of an all-time victory ripped from their grasp and crumbled into dust of defeat. 

“They’re hurt,” Pry said. “That’s why I hope they got it right.”