Brent Pry said on Tuesday that Virginia Tech has yet to receive a suitable explanation from the ACC for its controversial decision to overturn a game-winning Hail Mary during Friday’s college football game against Miami. The 54-year-old head coach is furious with the entire process and fully believes that his team should have been awarded a win.
At the very least, Pry does not understand how the conference came to its final ruling.
The Hokies went down by four points to the Hurricanes with one minute and 57 seconds left in the game. They drove 45 yards on eight plays. A timeout stopped the clock with three seconds remaining.
Virginia Tech had one final play from Miami’s 30-yard-line and heaved a high-arching pass to the back of the end zone. Wide receiver Da’Quan Felton was there for what appeared for a moment to be the game-winning catch. However, a defensive back ultimately came up with the ball, which sent the home crowd into a frenzy.
Virginia Tech was robbed!
Nobody knew for sure what was going on until ACC officials initially ruled the play as a touchdown.
— wow that was crazy (@CowardlyDoggo) September 28, 2024
Upon further review, the touchdown was overturned and called as an incomplete pass. It took no less than five minutes for the Atlantic Coast Conference to determine the final outcome from Charlotte.
— wow that was crazy (@CowardlyDoggo) September 28, 2024
The play could have (and probably should have) been deemed a completion in the end zone that gave the Hokies a massive upset win on the road. They were instead robbed of a victory by a decision that was not explained beyond a short statement from the ACC early the next morning.
During the review process of the last play, it was determined that the loose ball was touched by a Miami player while he was out of bounds.
— Atlantic Coast Conference
Brent Pry made it clear on Tuesday that he still doesn’t get it.
As far as the call at the end of the game on Friday night, I received no explanation on the field [and] no explanation in the locker room. The first thing I heard was what the general public heard at 1:30 that night – a statement that to me was confusing, at best. I was finally contacted Monday morning, which was a solicited contact, by the head of officials for the ACC. I asked for an explanation and the video that they viewed that merited overturning the call with indisputable evidence.
— Brent Pry
Regardless of whether the outcome was correct, Virginia Tech’s head coach doesn’t understand how the ACC found “indisputable” video evidence to overturn the call on the field.
The explanation was that there was a loose ball that was touched by a Miami defender that was out of bounds. The video showed nothing new, nothing that none of us hadn’t seen already. The words used with me were “interpretation” and “hard to find,” which to me, don’t align with “indisputable.”
I watched the video that they watched. If it was ruled a catch, I don’t see how you overturn it. There’s no evidence. If it was ruled not a catch, I don’t see how you overturn it. You can’t see enough to tell.
— Brent Pry
As much as the loss stings, he and his team are moving on.
I feel for our players, our fans. But we’ve turned the page.
— Brent Pry
The Hokies will travel west to play the Stanford Cardinal in Palo Alto this weekend. They will have to put the past in the past if they are going to leave California with their third win of the season — that should really be their fourth.