No. 7 Miami survives Va. Tech to remain perfect

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Officials declared what would have been a winning, final-play touchdown by Virginia Tech an incomplete pass after a lengthy review of the final play, and No. 7 Miami escaped with a 38-34 win in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams on Friday night.

The last snap came from the Miami 30 with 3 seconds remaining. Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones dropped back 11 yards and lofted the ball toward the left corner of the end zone. Awaiting it were no fewer than seven players, and five wound up in the scrum for the ball.

Officials originally determined that Da’Quan Felton made the catch and Virginia Tech stormed the field in celebration. After a long review, referee Jerry Magallanes — the same referee who worked the Miami-Duke game in 2015 where he and other officials were suspended two games for “a series of errors” on the play where the Hurricanes used eight laterals to win as time expired — announced the call was overturned.

“I saw an incomplete pass,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “That’s all I can say.”

Predictably, the view from the other sideline was different.

“That’s a tough one right there. The way that game ended, I hope they got that call right,” Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry said. “To take that, to overturn it, take it from our kids, our coaches, our fans, I hope they got it right.”

Cam Ward found Isaiah Horton with a 1-yard touchdown pass with 1:57 left for what became the winning score for the Hurricanes (50, 1-0). Ward threw for 343 yards and four touchdowns for Miami, which trailed by double digits on three separate occasions — the last of those when the Hokies went up 34-24 with 12:05 left.

Drones threw two touchdown passes, while Bhayshul Tuten rushed for 141 yards and another score for Virginia Tech (23, 0-1). The Hokies fell to 1-10 since the start of 2022 in games decided by seven points or less.

John Love had field goals of 52 and 57 yards for Virginia Tech.