Miami had the ball. The Hurricanes had the lead over Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets had no timeouts.
The Hurricanes simply had to take a knee with the clocking ticking toward the 30-second mark and they would escape with an ACC victory.
Mario Cristobal’s team somehow ran a play, Donald Chaney Jr. fumbled, Kyle Kennard of Tech recovered and what happened next shouldn’t have been unexpected given the preposterous call by the Hurricanes.
Haynes King threw a pass that found a wide-open Christian Leary behind the Miami secondary.
Leary made it to the end zone and the touchdown with a second left gave Georgia Tech the improbable 23-20 victory.
“That’s one of the biggest coaching mistakes at this level that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”
Miami could’ve taken a knee and closed out Georgia Tech. Instead … disaster struck 😳 pic.twitter.com/I5vAvtn78p
— ESPN (@espn) October 8, 2023
The Georgia Tech radio announcer lost his mind calling the play.
As called by @AndyDemetra on Georgia Tech radio (fixed): pic.twitter.com/ow2nBvv6LV
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) October 8, 2023
The play-by-play:
3rd & 10 at GT 30
(0:33 – 4th) Donald Chaney Jr. run for 4 yds to the GT 26 fumbled, recovered by GT Kyle Kennard
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1st & 10 at GT 26
(0:25 – 4th) Haynes King pass incomplete
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2nd & 10 at GT 26
(0:21 – 4th) Haynes King pass complete to Malik Rutherford for 30 yds to the MIA 44 for a 1ST down
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1st & 10 at MIA 44
(0:10 – 4th) Haynes King pass incomplete
2nd & 10 at MIA 44
- (0:01 – 4th) Haynes King pass complete to Christian Leary for 44 yds for a TD (Two-Point Conversion failed)
GEORGIA TECH GAME-WINNER IN THE FINAL SECONDS VS. MIAMI 🚨 pic.twitter.com/TmYk0Td7QX
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) October 8, 2023
Georgia Tech coach Brent Key delivered a quote for the ages:
Never change, Brent Key. When asked for his thoughts on the last 26 seconds of the game, he said:
“I usually have a pretty good recollection of the game, but what does Will Farrell say in “Old School?” I think I just blacked out. That’s what I felt like right then.”— Andrea Adelson (@aadelsonESPN) October 8, 2023