Miami shocks Duke on crazy 8-lateral kick return TD in final seconds (Video)
In a season full of unbelievable endings, Miami topped them all on the road at Duke.
After the Blue Devils stormed back from a 12-point deficit in the final six minutes to take a 27-24 lead with six seconds remaining, the Hurricanes scored on an absurd kickoff return for touchdown that had eight laterals. Somehow, after all of those laterals, the ball ended up in the hands of junior Corn Elder at the 10-yard line near the left sideline.
Once it was in his hands, Elder had a wall of blockers ahead and made a few men miss on his way to an improbable game-winning touchdown and a 30-27 Miami win.
Understandably, the play was subject to a lengthy (nearly nine minutes) review. First, the officials had to make sure none of the laterals were actually forward passes and that no Miami players were down while they had possession of the ball. Additionally, the Hurricanes were initially flagged for an illegal block in the back, but it was determined that all of the blocks on the play were legal. How that determination was made, however, is up for debate.
More importantly, they used replay to decide to pick up the flag for the block at the 25. Replay is not allowed to reveiw a call for that.
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) November 1, 2015
Word is that crew made the decision but that is bogus as the referee called over the officials after going back to talk to replay a 2nd time
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) November 1, 2015
So the crew used replay to pick up the flag. The block,btw, was legal.But, the block at the 15 back upfield was a flagrant block in the back
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) November 1, 2015
Additionally, Mike Walton's knee appears to be down before he lateraled the ball in the craziness that was the kick return.
Close your eyes, Duke fans pic.twitter.com/rTDSvyPnO0
— Dr. Saturday (@YahooDrSaturday) November 1, 2015
The touchdown, which gave the Hurricanes a 30-27 victory, comes less than a week after Hurricanes head coach Al Golden was fired following an embarrassing 58-0 home loss.
The crazy final play overshadowed what was a great comeback effort by the Blue Devils. Miami's lead was extended to 24-12 with 5:54 remaining on a 37-yard field goal by Michael Badgley.
After the field goal, Miami's defense went into prevent mode, but it backfired. Thanks to a few Miami penalties and the efforts of quarterback Thomas Sirk, Duke went 75 yards in 14 plays and 3:14 to cut into the lead on a Sirk 13-yard touchdown pass to Johnell Barnes.
Duke then forced the Hurricanes to go three-and-out to give its offense another shot with 1:45 to go. That's when Sirk went back to work. Four Sirk completions and three pass interference penalties against the Hurricanes allowed Duke to work its way to the 2-yard line. Duke had no timeouts, but instead of keeping it in the air, Sirk scored on a quarterback keeper with six seconds to go and then punched in a two-point conversion to take a 27-24 lead.
It looked like the game was completely in hand for the Blue Devils, but as we've learned recently with the improbable losses of Michigan and Florida State in recent weeks, the unexpected is always possible in college football.
The win improves Miami’s record to 5-3 on the season, but the loss is a brutal one for Duke. The Blue Devils, now 6-2, would have stayed tied for first place in the ACC Coastal division with North Carolina, which beat Pittsburgh on Thursday night.
Now the Tar Heels have sole possession of first place in the division, but Duke will have the chance to re-claim the top spot in the division against UNC in Chapel Hill next Saturday.
For more Miami news, visit CaneSport.com.
For more Duke news, visit DevilsIllustrated.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
