On Saturday night, I found myself flipping between two college football games with 10+ point favorites. I wasn’t drawn in by a fantasy player or a Heisman candidate looking to put up some big numbers in a blowout. Rather, I was captivated by two underdogs, each in a similar but unique state of unknown, forgetting about the turmoil outside of the lines and utilizing those three hours of primetime football to play the game that they love. Michigan-Minnesota and Miami-Duke provided a brief few minutes of mayhem as the clock approached 10:00 PM, and it was tough to keep up with the two games. Minnesota and Miami, two underachieving teams playing their first games without their head coaches for VERY different reasons, were both proving just how tough it is for favorites to win conference football games.

Minnesota, riding a wave of emotion following Coach Jerry Kill’s resignation due to an ongoing battle with epilepsy, had an upset over Michigan all but locked away. With 19 seconds left, the refs had signaled for a touchdown to put them up by three after a beautiful 23 yard pass from Mitch Leidner to Drew Wolitarsky. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh must have been thinking back to the gut-wrenching loss to Michigan State two weeks earlier and already wondering what could have been in his first season.

Around the same time in Durham, Duke’s QB, Thomas Sirk, was steadily erasing Miami’s 12 point fourth quarter lead with two touchdown drives sandwiched around a Miami 3-and-out in the final six minutes of regulation. Earlier in the week, Miami fired head coach Al Golden after suffering their worst defeat in a storied history, a 58-0 shellacking at home to Clemson, and interim coach Larry Scott was making a strong statement in having the 22nd ranked Blue Devils on the ropes at home late in the 4th quarter. However, three defensive pass interference calls aided Duke on their final drive. Below was interim coach Larry Scott’s reaction to the third pass interference call in a span of just 37 seconds, as he felt a very important win slipping through his fingers.

Defensive back Corn Elder had just committed his second penalty in four seconds, and from his reaction, he looked like he knew there was nothing he could do to avoid much of the blame for the ensuing touchdown.

If you have been near a TV or sports fan you know what happened next. Thomas Sirk ran in for the touchdown with six seconds remaining (controversial in its own right, as his head clearly crossed the plane, but the ball wasn’t so clear), and also carried the ball for the two point conversion. Miami fielded the ensuing kickoff and lateraled…and lateraled…and lateraled until the ball fell into the hands of the same Corn Elder who handed Duke thirty yards on the previous possession. 80 yards later, he was barely across the goal line before interim coach Larry Scott was standing above the dog pile, fists high in the air, celebrating the miraculous victory.

Every scoring play in college football is reviewed through video replay. It soon became clear that the pandemonium in Minnesota would momentarily be put on hold as Wolitarsky’s knee hit the ground just before the ball broke the plane. Minnesota would have one timeout, 19 seconds, and a half yard to go to pull the upset.

Back in Durham, as Miami and Duke watched the replay on the jumbotron while the officials reviewed the kickoff return for more than eight minutes, new angles showed that Miami’s Mark Walton’s knee appeared down before he released the ball. If the officials ruled that knee to be down, or upheld the flag thrown for a block in the back, Duke wins and enters Chapel Hill this weekend at 5-0 in conference play.

What happened next may define these interim coaches’ fates. In Minnesota, after the call was correctly overturned, the Gophers wasted 17 precious seconds of clock despite having a timeout before deciding to forego the game-tying field goal in an effort to win in regulation. The Michigan defense stood them up at the goal line and left town with that fluke loss to Michigan State as their only conference loss, staying in contention for a conference title. Minnesota interim coach Tracy Claeys must face questions on clock management and play call before taking the field for four more games. They will have a chance against Illinois, but their other three opponents are a combined 23-2 on the season. A 1-4 record for Claeys will be tough to justify after the season, regardless of the support he has received to remove the interim from his current title. What would a win over #15 Michigan have meant for Claeys? The interim title may have been dropped this week.

In Durham, the officiating crew ruled that the flag for block in the back should not have been thrown and that the miracle touchdown will stand. These referees would later be suspended by the ACC for four separate mistakes on the play. With no way to change the outcome once the decision to uphold the touchdown was announced, Duke fell from the ranks of the ACC unbeaten and will now have an uphill climb on a potential journey to Charlotte for the conference championship game. On the other sideline, interim coach Larry Scott delivered something predecessor Al Golden never did, a win on the road against a ranked opponent. With two or more conference wins to end the season, Larry Scott might just have the inside track on the once coveted Miami head coaching job.

For the players of Minnesota and Miami, the days leading up to Saturday night’s games must have been a blur. A few minutes after 10:00 PM on Halloween, the replay review on those two momentous plays was supposed to freeze time and provide one moment of clarity for the four participating programs. Much like the costumes the Gopher students were wearing in the stands in Minnesota, the joy from the Minnesota faithful for the signaled go ahead touchdown was only temporary as the officials correctly overturned the ruling on the field, and Minnesota would get no closer to the end zone. Now, Tracy Claeys will have to guide this team, a team with a heavy heart, against stiff competition down the stretch. This is a tough combination for an interim coach vying for a permanent spot. In Miami, Larry Scott should be facing similar questions after squandering an upset bid. Instead, the replay review did not serve its purpose. The Coastal Division in the ACC was shaken up greatly as a result of the mistake. While Duke can only call for a reversal that will never come, Miami had one brief shining moment where they were the toast of college football just one week after the embarrassment against the Tigers. For interim coach Larry Scott, that moment of running towards the dogpile in the end zone, arms in the air, will be what Miami fans expect in years to come. Scott took his first step to being the man to deliver on such expectations, faulty replay review or not.

Header Photo: News & Observer