The Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway at halftime of the ACC Championship in Charlotte on Saturday night was highlight contentious. Clemson took a 17-point lead into the locker room against SMU before controversy struck the $100,000 competition.
Two students named Miller and Ajani went head-to-head for the prize.
Although the chest pass has become an unfortunate trend in this annual competition, each contestant took a different approach. Miller went with the tried and true two-hand chest pass. His opponent used a more traditional quarterback form. Ajani is the hero we need.
Results went in favor of the modified method and the chest pass prevailed.
Miller jumped out to an early lead but Ajani actually came back to tie things up as the clock neared zero. It was neck-and-neck until the very end. Miller won on a buzzer-beater.
However, there is a case to be made that the ball was still in his hand when the official blew his whistle.
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) December 8, 2024
Dr Pepper gives $100,000 to the winner and $20,000 to the runner-up. It has awarded equal amounts of money ($100K) to both competitors as recently as last year because of a controversial tie of this nature. The wild 2023 occurrence took place during overtime so the circumstances were different. This year’s competition did not get to overtime even though Miller’s winning pass was potentially still in his hand.
There is no replay for the Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway so the result is final unless the company chooses to overturn its ruling. Here’s another look.
— – (@Spicoli_____) December 8, 2024
Benefit of the doubt says the pass was just barely out of Miller’s fingertips before the whistle. That is very possible. He deserves the $100,000. On the other hand, it feels like Ajani was robbed of $80,000. Or at the very least, a chance at the full $100,000 in the overtime period.