Where the HELL do I even START after last night’s goat rodeo?

Let’s first begin by saying the amount of salty tears from everyone that isn’t a Cane is hilarious. Let me ask you this, have you WATCHED this team for the last 5 years, do you realize the last win over a ranked opponent was in 2009? Does that compute? Yet everyone HAS to hate Miami, I guess that’s why I stand with the U, I have and always will live by the saying, “I rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not,” Thanks Kurt, RIP. It’s great to come from an entire university with the history of being hated for what you are and not giving a damn what anyone has to say. In all seriousness, this program NEEDED this win, after the week these kids have had, the blow-out loss to Clemson, the concussion to the starting QB preventing his return, firing of the HBC, and then the sudden passing of a teammates mother, if anyone NEEDED a win these kids NEEDED a win. So begins the story of the home town calls in Durham.

We can begin with the numbers. 23-194, 5-41. What are these numbers? They look like they could be the rushing yards of LSU’s running backs, but no these are the penalties from the game last night. You are reading that correct, your eyes do not deceive you, 23 for 194 yards, vs 5 for 41 yards, you can guess which set belongs to the Canes. One of the most absurd penalties called was a personal foul against WR Stacy Coley, after he caught a pass, he talked some trash, for a split second, didn’t get face to face, didn’t touch the Blue Devil, and yet the official threw a 15 yard flag on him, for trash talk or excessive celebration or something to that effect. Uh, because you know football players aren’t allowed to talk trash, and we should penalize them 15 yards every time they do? It gets even worse when you consider this fact, on Duke’s FINAL DRIVE, TWENTY PERCENT of ALL PENALTY YARDS ON MIAMI in the ENTIRE GAME were awarded in 3, nearly consecutive, pass interference calls in under 40 SECONDS of game time. Between roughly 1:20 and :40 left in the 4th quarter THREE P.I. calls were enforced yielding 3 FIRST downs for Duke on their final drive with ZERO time outs left, oh and why did Duke even HAVE this much time to begin with? The Ref’s returned (awarded?) Duke a time out because a Miami player was injured! Yes, Duke called a time out to prevent Miami from running down the game clock, Miami had a player slow to get up after the time out had ALREADY BEEN CALLED, so the Refs GAVE DUKE their time out back!?!?!?, This prevented Miami from continuing to run 35 seconds off the clock because they were able to stop the clock AGAIN, with their 4th effective T.O. of the half! To make all of this WORSE (oh we are just getting started), one of the P.I. calls was thrown when a Miami player intercepted the ball, and the whistle was blown dead as he was running into the end zone for a pick six! To add insult to injury the play was not even reviewed! Yes, I know, I know, you are saying Dallas, this can’t be true can it? Well it all is, you can even find it in the box score on ESPN, they even have the 3rd P.I. call replay available, which doesn’t remotely look like PI, and more importantly the ball doesn’t even look catchable! BUT WAIT, There is MORE, for the low low price of screwing Miami out of a win, we can throw more salt into the wound! After literally walking Duke down the field while hiding under the official’s skirt, they then so graciously proceeded to have the most SCREWED UP set of goal line downs I’ve ever seen.

Let me be clear here, I nor the referees have any idea what the hell happened in Dukes goal line drive, resulting in points on the board, notice I still refuse to call it a touchdown, explanation incoming. After the 3rd egregious P.I. call, Duke was within striking distance and still had the opportunity for a first down somewhere around the 1-2 yard line. With roughly 30 seconds left on the clock, Duke rushed and was denied the touch down, but had enough yardage for the first down, well I think they did the spot was never examined, rather than stopping the clock on the first down to measure the spot, it kept running, it ran down to 14 seconds, then something occurred and they reset the clock to 29 seconds, and then yet again they stopped and reset the clock to 30 seconds. Let’s flash back a second, between Duke being gifted an extra T.O. on Miami’s last drive, and this wonderful little 16 second gift, they were given nearly an extra MINUTE of playing time on their final drive! Keep in mind, they HAD ZERO TIME OUTS. Here is where the next MIND BOGGLING play occurs, for WHATEVER unknown reason ESPN U games have replay booths like all other games, but apparently are sorely lacking in camera angles. Duke’s quarterback Sirk, rushed for the TD attempt and was stuffed at the goal line, the ball was at his waste along with two Miami players, and his head nor the ball never appeared to cross the goal line, yet the Ref standing right there signaled for a TD, here’s the best part, there was NO WAY TO REVIEW IT. The best angle they have, displays the score from an angle, and even from then it does not appear he crossed the plain, honestly if I can find a replay of just this drive I will post it so people can see the hose job of this entire circus. The only replay even available on ESPN is of the 2 point conversion, the touchdown itself is currently not even listed in the play-by-play, nor is the replay of the TD itself viewable.

Whether or not the final play Miami pulled off was legitimate should not even remotely matter, the last drive by Duke was fabricated, it was pathetic, and it was the worst and most biased officiating I’ve seen in a long time. I know people will think I’m just a Miami home towner, and of course I’ve got some bias they are my team, but you know when Duke made that huge circus catch, I applauded them, when they ran 25 yards through Miami miss tackles for 7, that’s on Miami. When Miami was beat by FSU I felt it was a very fairly called ball game this year. I just can’t stand when in the last few minutes of a game it seems like the refs try to alter the outcome, I’ve even seen SEC, including UF Fans, who really don’t like Miami saying the officiating was a total homer job. If you haven’t seen the game go watch it, but don’t expect any replays that actually show the Phantom Pass Interference calls in the 4th quarter, as they didn’t even show them on TV in real time. Miami rocked Duke from start to finish with a Red Shirt Freshman QB coming off a disaster of a loss, these guys have heart!

Welcome to the circus, part 2 will be continued later when we break down the 8 play lateral come-back TD that people are talking trash about!