I don’t even know how to be trying to explain this. To be honest, I’m a little too gobsmacked to actually put digital pen to digital paper. You try not to be a prisoner of the moment in this business, but you can watch a lot of football and never see something more head-scratching than how Miami lost its game against Georgia Tech. Sometimes just the cold facts tell the story.
The play clock in college football is 40 seconds. Unlike on a failed fourth down (which causes a change of possession), when you go down inbounds on any other down, the clock continues to run. So if you were a college football team and you were winning the game, and the clock had ticked down under 40 seconds and your opponent didn’t have any timeouts, the only thing you’d have to do to win the game would be to kneel out of the victory formation. This is as close to an unassailable fact as there can be in the sport. It’s literally why they call it the victory formation.
But Miami did not do this, dear reader. Instead, inexplicably, they decided to run the ball up 20-17, and the absolute worst case scenario happened. They fumbled …
What a crazy finish! The Miami Hurricanes could have run out the clock but instead they (inexplicably) run a play and fumble the game away. Georgia Tech completes the miraculous comeback with a last second touchdown. pic.twitter.com/G07EGYys23
— 4Downs (@4downs) October 8, 2023
... and the Jackets pulled a miracle to win the game after going 74 yards in 25 seconds to win the game, capped off by this:
GEORGIA TECH GAME-WINNER IN THE FINAL SECONDS VS. MIAMI 🚨 pic.twitter.com/TmYk0Td7QX
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) October 8, 2023
Mario Cristobal gave no explanation for it at the end of the game because there is no explanation for it. It is as bad of a blunder, if not worse, than you will ever see at this level of football. And Cristobal’s staff has at least had something close to this back in 2018 when he was the head coach at Oregon and a similar situation happened. Had his Ducks kneeled, they would have gotten the clock down to around 10 seconds and their opponent had no timeouts. This time was somehow orders of magnitude worse.
There are three quotes ringing in my head constantly in the wake of this. The first one, I heard for myself earlier today. Steve Sarkisian said it after his Texas team lost to Oklahoma.
“That ultimately is a lot of what football is: Two good teams play, when one team makes a mistake, can you capitalize on that error?”
The answer, unequivocally for the Jackets in that moment was yes. The other? Apocryphally attributed to baseball manager Casey Stengel:
“Most ball games are lost, not won.”
The third comes from center Matt Lee, in a deeply upset state on the bench as he realized his team had likely lost:
Wilfredo Lee/AP
SI Top 10 (of the week)
1. Oklahoma
The Sooners beat Texas in an absolute instant classic with Dillon Gabriel putting the team on his back with a five play drive to win the game after Texas went ahead late. The game was back and forth throughout and one of the clearest examples of what makes this sport great. The Sooners proved that perhaps it is they who are truly back.
2. Michigan
The Wolverines are just erasing teams. In nine possessions, not counting end of half situations, the Wolverines scored on six of them, rolling over Minnesota 52–10. You can point out their schedule is soft (which it is), but all they can do is look as impressive as possible against it (which they are).
3. Georgia
If you had written the Dawgs off, reconsider for a moment. They hung 51 on Kentucky in a game and looked a lot like the dominant performances of the last couple years. Perhaps these Dawgs are just taking a little longer than usual to get going.
4. Florida State
The Noles had a game that rubber-banded a little, but in the end ended how you’d expect: with FSU winning decisively. FSU continues to prove that it can control games.
5. Ohio State
Ohio State certainly did not control its game today until the end. But consider this: They have Marvin Harrison Jr, and your team doesn’t. Eight receptions, 163 yards and a touchdown. He’s good.
6. North Carolina
UNC not only beat Syracuse today, they also got Tez Walker back as he added six catches and 43 yards to join the embarrassment of riches to Drake Maye’s receiving corps. And at 5–0 and playing quite a bit of defense, don’t sleep on these Heels.
7. USC
The Trojans started slow with a defense that remains multiple steps behind where it needs to be in order to win a championship. But the Trojans offense always gives you a chance to win.
8. Alabama
Sure everyone wants to bury Bama, but the Tide are still going to hang around in the SEC this year and remain favorites in the West after beating Texas A&M, 26–20. Jalen Milroe threw for more than 300 yards and the Tide looked a bit more balanced on offense.
9. Louisville
The Cards had a massive win, completely outplaying Notre Dame, 33-20. Jeff Brohm’s Cardinals are 6–0 and rolling on the Bluegrass.
10. UCLA
The Bruins are a curious team this season. But they just got a massive victory over Washington State again flexing a great defense in the process.
SI Player of the Week: Drake Maye, North Carolina QB; Oklahoma’s defensive front
- Maye went 33-for-47 for 442 yards. Everyone pencils in Caleb Williams as the No. 1 pick, but Maye isn’t just challenging him for that spot, he’s leading UNC to what may just have the makings of a dream season.
- The Sooners’ goal line stand will be the stuff of legends where they stoned Texas on the 1 yard-line with the game very much in doubt in the Red River Rivalry. The talk was around the Longhorns front, but OU stood tall all day.
Did you see that?
- Welcome back, Tez
Devontez Walker pic.twitter.com/ERuMmH5LIF
— chris (@dadgumboxscores) October 7, 2023
- Fellas, you can’t do that:
USC tried to push him into the punt 🤣 pic.twitter.com/ij1WKEewHY
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 8, 2023
- Hi, Jim
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) October 7, 2023
- This is too smooth:
— ok man (@sportsguy839303) October 7, 2023
- Ok this is a “did you hear that” from Gus Johnson. Heat. In. The. Kitchen:
🗣️ "YOU GOT BBQ BACK THERE AND DIDN'T INVITE ME? HURT. MY. FEELINGS... NUMBER TWO."
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 7, 2023
Gus Johnson had to bring back his legendary call for this big hit by @OhioStateFB's Denzel Burke 🤣 pic.twitter.com/rR04dtJSHj
