Cote: No. 7 Miami Hurricanes get lucky & get wakeup call in 38-34 win over Virginia Tech | Opinion

The No. 7-ranked Miami Hurricanes won their ACC opener Friday night at Hard Rock Stadium. But did they, really?

The Canes got lucky. And got a wakeup call as subtle as the blast of an air horn.

UM coach Mario Cristobal may be feeling good right now. What he should be mostly feeling is very fortunate.

The record will state Miami beat Virginia Tech 38-34 in prime time Friday, but you could not have slid a sheet of notebook paper in the margin between that and a crushing 40-38 home loss.

Miami is 5-0 now, but after winning the first four games by a combined 207-41, this was a night that made you wonder for the first time time how good the Canes really are. It felt like a well-timed reality check. Virginia Tech was nothing special. Had already lost to Vanderbilt and Rutgers. UM was favored by 17 points.

Yet Miami was forced to overcome three double-digit deficits, two in the second half, on a night when quarterback Cam Ward was intercepted twice and The U had three turnovers in all. A night when the Hokies pummeled Miami’s run defense for 224 yards rushing and 6.4 yard per carry.

And that final play?

For Virginia Tech it was a Hail Mary pass.

The result of it surely left Cristobal thanking the football gods.

Officials first signaled a touchdown catch by Tech’s Da’Quan Felton, and Hokies players ran onto the field in celebration. A long review ensued before the call was overturned and canes fans, belatedly, were doing the celebrating.

The referee was Jerry Magallanes, the very same ref who worked the 2015 Hurricanes-Duke game when the Canes used eight laterals to win as time expired. Magallanes and that crew were suspended two games for what the ACC called a “series of errors” on that play.

Not to suggest this crew erred on its decision with time expired, but the original call could just as easily have stood.

“I saw an incomplete pass,” Cristobal said. “That’s all I can say.”

Va-Tech coach Brent Pry obviously felt robbed but was careful in his language, saying, “That’s a tough one right there. The way that game ended, I hope they got that call right. To take that, to overturn it, take it from our kids, our coaches, our fans ... I hope they got it right.”

The ACC said In a statement that the pass was ultimately ruled incomplete because the ball was touched by a Miami player while he was out of bounds: From the statement: “During the review process of the last play, 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.”

So Miami survived a mediocre Virginia Tech team at home despite three double-digit deficits, three turnovers and poor run defense ... thanks to divine luck on a controversially overturned TD call with time expired.

This narrow and fortunate escape should not impress pollsters -- but it might be just what the perhaps-overconfident Canes needed moving forward after four straight lopsided wins out the gate.

The Canes’ effort in its ACC opener likely would not be good enough next Saturday night at Cal.

It certainly would not be good enough the following game, after a bye week, at No. 15 Louisville.

A less than menacing schedule from here gives the Hurricanes a plausible chance to actually go undefeated in the regular season, win the ACC and then be a threat, not just a participant, in the College Football Playoff.

But only if Friday night proves to be the worst we see of the Canes all season.