Miami Hurricanes Football: A Wave of Emotion After a Memorable Finish

In Durham, North Carolina, the Miami Hurricanes played with heavy hearts and experienced a flurry of emotion in the final two minutes of the game. In case you missed it, the week prior before the Duke game Miami fired Al Golden after a 58-0 blowout loss to Clemson, DT Michael Wyche got kicked off the team, and Artie Burns lost his mother, Dana Smith. Not to mention starting QB Brad Kaaya was out due to a concession. That’s a lot of distractions to handle as a team. With this, coaches worry about their future, and the players wonder how they will coupe.

But, what if I told you one single play could have changed the program for years to come?

Despite 23 penalties and awful officiating, Miami played with absolute toughness and passion. Interim coach Larry Scott told the players to cut it loose before the game, a thing we didn’t hear much in the Golden Era. Golden preached control and passiveness. However, we all could see that mentality forced him to lose his job. If Miami played Duke under Golden, would you be convinced that Miami would have won the game? I wouldn’t be.

In this game, Miami played till 0:00 was left on the clock. Everything was against Miami with 0:06 seconds in the game. After two egregious pass interference calls and a questionable touchdown by Duke, Miami completed the one of the most controversial and best plays in College Football history.

Watch “Miracle in Durham” a video by CanesAllAccess on YouTube. It’s bound to give you a wave of emotion.

But yes of course, Miami was in the national media spotlight for the finish. Not for the sheer greatness of the play, but for controversy. Rings a bell, huh?  A multitude of ESPN’s media members such as Mike Greenberg, Heather Dinich, Michael Wilbon, and Paul Finebaum, who has berated the Miami program in the past few weeks, have called for the ACC to overturn the game and give Duke the win. Some have encouraged even for Miami to forfeit the game.

Why on Earth should Miami forfeit the game? Why would anyone forfeit a game due to human error? If the ACC were to do this which they wouldn’t, it would be unprecedented. So many calls in the history of sports have been controversial. Flags and decisions decided national championships and world series games.  The argument is illogical and Miami would not give up the win.

Under a new interim coach Larry Scott, the culture feels different. Miami is somehow relevant again after a so far average year on the field. The “Miracle in Durham” could have changed the program outlook for the next decade. One in-explainable moment of the greatness is what the program needed. This shot in the arm could have awaken the restoration of “The U”.  When is the last time you heard from the Atheltic Director Blake James or even the New President Julio Frenk? Due to the national media exposure and criticism, they hit them back with letters exposing the truth:

A letter from Frenk: A message from Frenk:

The most important thing in these letters is that the ACC acknowledged some blown penalties leading up the final finish. If those few pass interference flags weren’t thrown, Duke wouldn’t have won the game.

The Miami players showed all game that they wanted it more than the opponent. More than ever before, Miami fans are now united. They are defending the outside, and not criticizing the inside of the program. It’s ironic how  Golden preached this whole tenure, “block out the noise”. There is no telling what this victory could do for the Miami program. It definitely generated momentum for the team to win out and go to a bowl game. Now that Golden is out and a new coach is on the way, hope is instilled in all of us.