Last weekend’s Duke-Miami game ended on one of the most incredible plays you will ever see at any level of football, as the Hurricanes won the game on a kick return touchdown that included eight laterals. However, it quickly became clear that the play should never have counted.
Or, if you want to look at it from Miami’s viewpoint, perhaps the officiating crew owed the Hurricanes a break. As Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes, Miami athletic director Blake James wrote a letter to season ticket holders this week explaining that the ACC admitted the Hurricanes were also victimized by bad calls.
“Per ACC policy our football staff submitted the plays we believed were incorrectly called as a matter of weekly protocol, and were notified by the league that multiple incorrect calls impacting our team occurred during the game, including a pass interference call on the final drive,” James wrote.
James said he also voiced his concern with ACC Commissioner John Swofford over the “negative light” the situation has created for Miami.
If you haven’t seen the insane ending to the game, you can watch it here. The ACC announced that the officiating crew had been suspended the following day, but the press release focused on all the calls the officials missed on Miami’s game-winning play. If the Hurricanes were also victimized by bad calls, the ACC should have mentioned those.
