Miami loses to Florida State on violation of spike rule

Miami lost to Florida State 31-28 on Saturday evening in Tallahassee, Fla. and the game ended on a violation of the spike rule.

Hurricanes quarterback Tyler Van Dyke completed a 4th-and-10 pass to Charleston Rambo for 19 yards, taking the ball to the Miami 44 with two seconds left. Miami raced to get set up for a spike play and executed it, but there was one problem: they didn’t have enough time for a spike.

FSU just won thanks to a spike by Miami with 2 seconds left, which is illegal. pic.twitter.com/icX46qKjFC

— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) November 14, 2021

The NCAA announced a rule change in 2013 where they established a rule regarding spikes. A minimum of three seconds are needed on the clock for a team to be eligible to spike the ball. If there are fewer than three seconds, the rule states that there is not enough time to run multiple plays.

Had Miami been aware of the rule, they would have run a final play — perhaps a Hail Mary — to try and win the game. But it seems neither the coaches, players, nor announcers knew about the rule. At least the officials did.

The Hurricanes pulling out the victory on their final play would have been unlikely, but it’s not like we haven’t seen teams complete Hail Mary passes.