Last week, analysts, media personalities, and fans alike were calling for the Miami Hurricanes to give up everything but Sebastian’s head on a platter after their controversial win against the Duke Blue Devils which involved a blown call on Miami’s final play of the game.
After review, the ACC ruled that Mark Walton’s knee was down before he completed a lateral to Jaquan Johnson, which would have ruled the play dead and the game over with a Duke victory.
In the aftermath of the controversy, the ACC suspended the officials for two games after it was found that multiple calls were missed throughout the game, especially on the last play. To compound that multiple outlets and personalities were suggesting that Miami should forfeit the game and the ACC should give the win to Duke.
This should have given officials across the country a wake up call right? Show them the consequences of what can happen if they slack off on their responsibility to call a fair and balanced game. After the fallout of last week’s blunder, it SURELY wouldn’t happen again…
Before I continue, let’s look back on the reaction to the end of the Miami-Duke game.
https://twitter.com/FOXSportsLive/status/660688196733300738
The officiating errors came on the final play. Reverse the decision. I don't care if there is no precedent. It makes sense. #DukevsMiami
— Mike Greenberg (@Espngreeny) November 1, 2015
ACC names Corn Elder, who returned final kick 90 yds, Specialist of Week, after suspending crew for screwing up the play. Can't make it up.
— Mike Greenberg (@Espngreeny) November 2, 2015
Even Hollywood got in on the action bashing.
He was down AND an extra player ran on the field. Those officials should be banned immediately. #Duke pic.twitter.com/lj6npJqOMI
— Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) November 1, 2015
What Rob Lowe is talking about:
I don't have a dog in the fight but this is pathetic #MIAvsDUKE pic.twitter.com/oh3IXGE216
— Thomas Guerry (@thomasguerry) November 1, 2015
The point of this article isn’t to defend the play; the score shouldn’t have counted and Duke should have won the game. It is about the completely different reaction by the media following the end to the Nebraska and Michigan State game. There have been no calls for the Big 10 to reverse the call, no word of officials being suspended, no non-stop coverage on ESPN.
Gotta feel good for those #Nebraska kids after all their close losses. Way to go big Red!
— robert smith (@Robert26Smith) November 8, 2015
Surprising info. Just spoke to former ACC coordinator of officials Doug Rhodes (now ESPN rules expert) about end of #NEBvsMSU (1/3)
— Matt Schick (@ESPN_Schick) November 8, 2015
They were reviewing the TD as they would a normal scoring play.They were not reviewing whether or not WR was pushed out of bounds. #NEBvsMSU
— Matt Schick (@ESPN_Schick) November 8, 2015
https://twitter.com/CFBonScout/status/663385596400902144
The blown call in the Michigan State vs. Nebraska game impacts the college football playoff landscape in a big way, even more than the end to the Duke vs. Miami game. Even to this day, the infamous Stanford vs. Cal game is still debated, and those teams weren’t even bowl eligible that year.
Whatever the case, in Miami fans take offense to the soft “aw shucks, sometimes it happens like that” reaction to how out-of-conference rival Nebraska defeated Michigan State because of the scathing reaction to Miami’s win over the Duke. These two different reactions are received poorly, by the Miami fanbase, because it is reminiscent of the days the NCAA and the rest of the country had it in for the Hurricanes.
Oddly enough, Miami should relish in that.
After what has felt like eons of living in the Dark Ages, the Hurricanes can still elicit that type of reaction after a victory. And we haven’t even taken into account that this was the first game following the firing of head coach Al Golden after the Canes suffered their worst home loss in program history, or the somber atmosphere due to the passing of Artie Burn’s mother earlier in the week.
Even still, Miami appears to still remain one of the most polarizing teams in college football.
The Miami teams of yore would take the barbs thrown at them last weekend – “Miami shouldn’t have won that game, they needed a blown call to do it because the program is in shambles” – and use it as motivation to run through the rest of the season, and remind the world that Miami doesn’t need blown calls to win like some teams.
They hate the U cause they ain’t U. Time to give them more of a reason too.
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