Duke Blue Devils: Lose in Bizarre Fashion Against Miami
For the Duke Blue Devils, 30-27 just happened. It must feel like a massive trick.
On Halloween Night, the Duke Blue Devils looked as if the Miami Hurricanes would take away all their treats. The Hurricanes controlled the scoreboard until deep in the fourth quarter. Yet a Duke team who had taken the Hokies in extra periods was not willing to give up just yet.
They participated in a big comeback to from 24-12 to 25-24 on a Thomas Sirk touchdown with a mere six seconds to go. They got the two point conversion and then they seemed set except for one final kickoff.
At this point Hurricanes fans had to be gagging on their Halloween candy. Miami had put forth a great effort without Coach Al Golden and quarterback Brad Kaaya. Now it was just going to be for nothing, another loss in an already disappointing season. Was there pass interference? Did Sirk actually cross the goal line?
27-24. Conventional wisdom says the game is over. Conventional wisdom ignores Cal-Stanford or Saints-Jaguars. Those things just don’t happen. So I had left Twitter under the assumption that when GameTracker updated it would show a Duke victory.
The kickoff went to a Miami returner and then the laterals started. Eight laterals later the ball ended up in the hand of Corn Elder with a small convoy of blockers. Elder managed to run the rest of the way to the end zone. There was a funny looking block that helped spring him though, which led to another flag in a game with too many.
Miami’s brief ecstasy was short lived as the flag was announced a little slow. Now it was Duke’s turn to believe that victory was theirs. They might have been right too, except for the words: the play is under further review.
After eight minutes of review, the referees reversed the call and proclaimed a legal Miami block. That gave Miami the victory and put Duke into second place in the Coastal Division heading into next week’s game with North Carolina.
This was a game where the ACC refs were going to make no friends with the outcome. It set back Duke temporarily though, so it is a game Duke fans will want to see erased. The only way to do that is victory in the Victory Bell game against the Tar Heels.