Virginia Tech Reacts to Controversial Hail Mary Overturn in Loss to No. 7 Miami

No moment will define Virginia Tech's heartbreaking 38-34 loss to No. 7 Miami more than the hail mary at the end of the game that was originally ruled a touchdown catch by Da'Quan Felton only to be overturned after a prolonged six-to-seven minute review.

Almost two hours after the game ended, the ACC released the following statement on the decision.

"During the review process of the last play of the Virginia Tech at Miami game, it was determined that the loose ball was touched by a Miami player while he was out of bounds which makes it an incomplete pass and immediately ends the play."

You can take a look for yourself at the angles below but from my vantage point, Felton caught the ball and was down with control before it gets jarred loose by the Miami defender who was out of bounds. That in my view makes it a touchdown with the evidence for overturning it not being conclusive.

In his initial comments on the loss, Brent Pry shared the following comments that are best viewed first via video to get the tone that it was said with before reading the transcribed quote.

Here are those remarks from Brent Pry transcribed.

"That’s a tough one right there. The way the game ended, I hope they got that call right. To take that, to overturn it and take that from our kids, our coaches, our fans, I hope they got it right. I’m very proud of our team and our coaches. Much closer to the team we need to be week-in and week-out. Miami is a very talented football team. We needed to play our best. I don’t know that … Incredibly disappointed for our team right now. But I’ll take our players, our coaches and Lane Stadium any day," Pry said.

Pry gave further opinion on whether he thought there was enough evidence to overturn after sharing that the refs gave him no explanation after deciding to overturn the call.

"I didn’t think there was enough evidence to overturn it. So like I said, I hope they got it right," Pry said.

The frustration ran throughout the players as well about the call with remarks drawing a similar tone especially from star QB Kyron Drones when asked about what he saw on the play.

“First reaction, I saw Miami fans going crazy so I thought it was incomplete. Then I seen our fans (going crazy). They say it was a touchdown on the field. I don’t know how it got overruled. Hope they made the right decision, but it is what it is," Drones said.

Sophomore safety Mose Phillips was a little more calmer in his response after the game.

"When they ruled it a touchdown initially, you know, of course we ran around, we was excited because it’s a big win against a great team. Of course we’re going to be excited. We’re excited to get to the locker room and celebrate with our friends. Once they pause it, it’s like, I kind of felt like, you know, it was necessary they needed to take a look at it. I understood that part of it, but I still felt like it was a touchdown. You know they ruled it. I know being a referee is a tough job, so I never try to discredit those guys. I just wish them the best moving forward, as well," Phillips said.

Overall, it's clear that there was plenty of frustration in Virginia Tech's locker room after the game and understandably. That included Virginia Tech WR Stephen Gosnell who in a since-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), expressed his frustration about the final decision.

The frustration goes well beyond Tech players, coaches, and fans to also national media, former college football players, and more. This is a call that outside of those in Miami, most seem to be in agreement made no sense especially given how the initial call was a catch and that the standard is that there has to be conclusive evidence for it to be overturned.

Regardless, Tech now has a week to mentally reset and move on before they head out west to take on a Stanford team looking to leave their mark in their first season in the ACC. For Kyron Drones, it's clear the focus is on bouncing back next week and doing what they can to get a rematch with Miami in Charlotte for the ACC Championship.

"Knowing what this team can do, we can go toe-to-toe with anyone if we play like that. So hopefully we go 1-0 next week, 1-0 each week after that, and then see them again.”

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