MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — In one overturned call, Virginia Tech went from Hail Mary glory to Fail Mary misery.
The Hokies had a 30-yard quasi-Hail Mary touchdown pass at the buzzer from Kyron Drones to Da’Quan Felton overruled after replay review, sending Virginia Tech to a crushing 38-34 loss to No. 7 Miami.
The Hokies (2-3, 0-1 ACC) had moved 45 yards in the final two minutes to get to the Miami 30 with three seconds left, needing a touchdown to win. Drones lofted a ball into traffic in the end zone, where a mass of bodies went up for the pass.
In a scrum, Felton came down with the ball before it was ripped out after a beat by Miami’s Tyler Rowe. While the Hurricanes celebrated and LED lights flickered in Hard Rock Stadium, the official huddled and ruled a touchdown for the Hokies, setting off a massive celebration from the Tech sideline.
The play went to a review, keeping the stadium crowd on edge. After seven minutes, the official ruled that the play was overturned, handing Miami (5-0, 1-0 ACC) a four-point win and keeping the Canes unbeaten.
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"That's a tough one right there," a steamed Brent Pry said afterward. "I hope they got that call right. To take it from our kids, our coaches, our fans, I hope they got it right.
"Normally when you look at something that long, it doesn't get overturned."
As Miami players celebrated on the field and the Hokies left for the locker room, the teams jawed at each other in a finish that’s going to be talked about for years.
The controversial finish came after the Hurricanes rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit, scoring touchdowns on their final three possessions thanks to a Heisman Trophy-worthy performance by quarterback Cam Ward, who threw for 343 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 57 yards and another score.
The Canes had two amazing plays on their go-ahead scoring drive. Receiver Xavier Restrepo slipped on a fourth-and-3 play but still managed to move the sticks when he made a 4-yard reception on his back.
A couple plays later, Ward slipped two tackles in the backfield, getting out of the grasp of Keyshawn Burgos and Kaleb Spencer before flipping the ball out to Riley Williams. The tight end stiff-armed linebacker Keli Lawson and rumbled 26 yards to the 2-yard line. On the next play, Ward hit Horton for the go-ahead touchdown, making it 38-34.
It’s Virginia Tech’s first four-game losing streak to Miami since a decades-long 12-game skid that ended with the Hokies’ win in 1995.
Despite the loss, the Hokies finally showed some fight, taking it to the Canes as 17.5-point underdogs. Bhayshul Tuten ran for 141 yards and a touchdown and Kyron Drones threw for 189 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 56 in the loss.
The Hokies started fast. Cole Nelson stripped Ward of the ball on a third-down pressure on the game’s first drive, a fumble that linebacker Sam Brumfield jumped on at the Canes’ 31-yard line. Three plays later, Drones dodged the rush, created time and found a wide-open Benji Gosnell behind the defense for an easy 25-yard touchdown, giving Tech a 7-0 lead a little over two minutes in.
Miami answered quickly. Ward hit tight end Elijah Arroyo up the sideline for a 45-yard gain, then connected with receiver Jacolby George for an 18-yard touchdown that knotted it up at 7.
Tech turned it over on the ensuing drive. Drones left a ball behind Ayden Greene, who couldn’t reel it up and tipped it up in the air, making for an easy pick by Miami safety Mishael Powell.
The Hurricanes had a play-action on third-and-1 going the other way, with Ward selling the fake and Arroyo running right past Jaylen Jones. Ward lobbed an easy throw over the top for a 43-yard touchdown to give Miami a 14-7 lead.
Miami was on the doorstep of another touchdown — in fact, Ward had a scoring throw under pressure wiped out by a holding penalty — when Mose Phillips jumped a pass near the sideline on third down for his first career interception, taking it back 33 yards.
A few plays later, Tuten broke through the line on third-and-1, ran through a tackle and had nothing but daylight ahead of him. The 55-yard touchdown run, Tuten’s longest with the Hokies, tied things up at 14 with 11:59 left in the second quarter. It was Tuten’s seventh straight game with a touchdown.
Antwaun Powell-Ryland notched his seventh sack of the year on the next drive, forcing a punt.
Tech moved right down the field, hitting paydirt on a nifty reverse to Jaylin Lane. Drones took the snap and gave it to backup quarterback Collin Schlee, who was running in motion. Schlee flipped it to Lane going the other way. Drones threw the lead block downfield to spring Lane 20 yards up the sideline for a touchdown to give the Hokies a 21-14 lead.
Tech got a 57-yard field goal from John Love with 20 seconds left in the half to take a 24-17 lead. It was the third-longest field goal in school history.
The Hokies inexplicably took a timeout before the Love field goal, though, instead of letting the clock run down. Tech squibbed the kickoff, but Chris Johnson returned it 34 yards to the Miami 47. After a pass interference call on Dorian Strong, the Hurricanes got a 55-yard field goal from Andres Borregales as the halftime clock, sending Miami into the locker room trailing 24-17.
Love extended Virginia Tech’s lead to 27-17 with a 52-yard field goal early in the third quarter. He became the first Hokies kicker to make two field goals of 51-plus yards in the same game since Dave Strock in 1972.
The Hokies looked to be in business when Dorian Strong tipped a Ward pass that Kaleb Spencer picked off. The star linebacker returned it 77 yards to the Miami 17, giving Tech a prime chance to go up three scores.
Instead, they went three-and-out. After Love lined up for a 27-yard field goal, the Hokies tried a fake, pitching the ball to tight end Harrison Saint Germain, who was cutting behind the line. Miami stuffed it for a loss and a crushing turnover on downs.
The Canes marched right down the field in response, pulling with 27-24 when Ward stepped up away from outside pressure, dodging tacklers in the middle of the field on a 17-yard touchdown run with 2:18 to play in the third quarter.
P.J. Prioleau appeared to rip off a 61-yard touchdown run for the Hokies, but it was negated by a holding call on Kaden Moore. Tech scored on the drive anyway, with Drones escaping pressure and throwing across his body, connecting with Ayden Greene in the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown to put the Hokies up 34-24.
Again, Miami had a response. The Canes went 70 yards down the field in nine plays, finishing the drive with Ward’s third touchdown pass of the day, a 6-yarder to Cam McCormick that cut the Tech lead to 34-31.
Box Score: No. 7 Miami 38, Virginia Tech 34
