Miami beats Duke on insane lateral play (Video)

October 31, 2015

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We have a new candidate for greatest ending to a college football game of all time.

Miami nearly blew a 24-12 fourth quarter lead against Duke and was trailing 27-24 after allowing the Blue Devils to score a touchdown with six seconds left. Many thought the game was over and that the Canes were toast at that point, but they had something special on their side.

Using a bunch of laterals and a rugby-like play, the Canes moved the ball up the field and scored a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff to win it:

Miami just did this to win a football game… pic.twitter.com/ck4a4JUseN

— Sports Comedy (@SportsComedy_) November 1, 2015

The referees initially threw a flag on Miami for an illegal block in the back. They spent a lot of time reviewing the play but ultimately decided to award the Canes with the touchdown. The officials determined the block in question came from the side and was therefore legal. They also decided one of the Miami players’ knees was not down on a tackle.

There were some questionable blocks the Canes got away with:

So this is the "block in the back" that cost Miami the game? pic.twitter.com/nOjeEexiOm

— Sports Dude™ (@ImTheSportsDude) November 1, 2015

The rest were iffy. This one they got away with. pic.twitter.com/A0lPVEN4HX

— Robert Littal (@BSO) November 1, 2015

Here is the one the completely missed that was clear block in the back. pic.twitter.com/LRXVTvG0qA

— Robert Littal (@BSO) November 1, 2015

Miami also got away with having an extra player on the field:

A Miami sideline player without his helmet on (far left) ran onto the field before the TD scored. pic.twitter.com/LLW1Xaj0Ma

— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) November 1, 2015

And it looked like a player’s knee was almost down: