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Miami Hurricanes Outlast the Duke Blue Devils With One of the Greatest Finishes Ever

By Shanon Culiner

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A miracle play to win it for the Miami Hurricanes leaving the Duke Blue Devils stunned! And, I’m still stunned (in a good way).

When the ‘Canes seemed to have lost the game after Duke’s QB Thomas Sirk drove down the field and scored in a last minute drive, Miami would not be denied. And, with only several seconds left on the game clock, Miami pulls off one of the most amazing finishes ever.

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Lateral after lateral, block after block …  Hurricanes players: Dallas Crawford, Corn Elder, Jaquan Johnson, Mark Walton and Tyre Brady all got into the action. 8 laterals and 46 seconds later, Elder took it to the house for a 75-yard kickoff return.  And then, we had to wait.

A flag was thrown and the referees wanted to review it. Originally, it looked like the play wouldn’t stand. The officials called a block in the back. But after what felt like an eternity, the refs confirmed there were no knees down and all blocks were shoulder to shoulder. The play stood! Miami wins!

The Miami Hurricanes had tremendous controversy hit them in the face this past week. They suffered their worst loss ever to Clemson, fired their head coach Al Golden, lost their starting quarterback Brad Kaaya and cornerback Artie Burns sadly lost his mother.

But on a day of horror, Halloween, the ‘Canes would continue the fight no matter the circumstance and keep their Coastal Division title chances still very much alive.

Interim head coach Larry Scott had said before the game he wanted to see his players have fun. And, you could see the excitement early on.

The defense came to play, flying around everywhere and keeping it physical.

Even after Walton fumbled the ball on the opening kickoff, putting Duke immediately in the red-zone, Miami stood strong and held them till they turned the ball over on downs.

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Quarterback Malik Rosier remained poised for the most part throughout the game and made some great throws, including a 33-yard touchdown pass to Herb Waters and a 19-yard touchdown pass to Stacy Coley. He did have some 3rd quarter troubles, throwing an interception and caused an intentional grounding call, which gave Duke a safety. But overall, I was impressed with his play for a first start on the road against a ranked opponent. He threw for 272 yards, 2 touchdowns, and an interception.

Running back Joseph Yearby and Walton combined for a 131 yards on the ground. Walton had some big runs to boost the offense in the 4th quarter.

Coley led all receivers with 5 catches for 87 yards and a touchdown.

Though Miami dominated the time of possession, when Duke ran the hurry up offense with quarterback Sirk it kept Miami off-balance. And the ‘Canes defense struggled in the 3rd quarter and near the end of the 4th quarter. Duke had 440 total yards to Miami’s 391 total yards.

Oct 31, 2015; Durham, NC, USA; Miami Hurricanes running back Mark Walton (1) is upended by Duke Blue Devils safety Jeremy Cash (16) during their game at Wallace Wade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports

One of the big knocks on this ‘Canes team against Duke was the penalties. Miami had a record-setting night with 23 penalties (not the record you want), which resulted in negative 194-yards! That’s going backwards nearly 2 football fields. I can’t say I’m impressed by the officiating, but Miami needs to get that fixed.

Nevertheless, coach Larry Scott is 1-0 as the ‘Canes head coach and Miami is still very much in it in the Coastal Division race.

Furthermore, Miami has just created a little more history tonight. They can argue that they played one of the greatest game-ending moments (and it went their way; sorry Boston College and Doug Flutie). And most importantly, they’ve proved to still have fight no matter the obstacles in their way.

The Miami Hurricanes will face the Virginia Cavaliers next Saturday at Sun Life Stadium.

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