The Hurricanes ‘found a way’ in comeback over Virginia Tech. Now they need to learn from it

After the dust settled from a pandemonium-filled ending at Hard Rock Stadium on Friday night, the Miami Hurricanes could finally celebrate.

A last-second Hail Mary attempt by Virginia Tech fell incomplete — not before a lengthy review and not before both sides thought the play landed in their favor — to allow the No. 7 Hurricanes to walk away with a 38-34, come-from-behind victory to begin Atlantic Coast Conference play and keep their perfect record intact.

They savored the moment, enjoying a win that saw them erase the struggles of a sloppy first half, overcome a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter and make a final stand in the dying seconds when a win easily could have slipped through their grasps.

“Look,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said postgame. “That could be a locker room with an L right now and it’d be a lot worse. We found a way to win. I could sit here and talk about a billion things that we could have done better. I just don’t want to do that. I want to focus on the fact that this team, probably, over the last 20 years lost a game like this. This team found a way to win, so they can take that however they want. I’m proud of the effort. I’m not proud of the way we coached and played but sometimes you’ve just got to find a way to get a W and we found a way to get it.”

It was the Hurricanes’ first true challenge of the season, the first time where a win was anything but certain as the game ticked down to its final moments.

It tested their resolve and provided insight into how this team will handle tough situations thrown their way.

And, in a way, it was a moment the Hurricanes (5-0, 1-0 ACC) were waiting for. They knew the season wasn’t going to be as easy as they made it appear to be during their nonconference slate when they outscored Florida, Florida A&M, Ball State and USF by a combined 209-41. There were going to be bumps in the road and the Hurricanes needed to know how they would respond.

It wasn’t pretty, but they did their job on Friday.

“It’s about time we have one of these games,” quarterback Cam Ward said. “These games are going to be the standpoint of going forward in ACC play. Everybody’s trying to win their games. We put ourselves in a bad situation early, but we were able to come out of it.”

The final play

But the Hurricanes nearly didn’t come out of it, with one final play and a lengthy, emotion-filled waiting period determining the outcome.

The scene: Virginia Tech (2-3, 0-1 ACC) at the Miami 30-yard line with three seconds left on the clock. Hokies quarterback Kyron Drones dropped back and sent a pass to the end zone. A slew of Virginia Tech receivers and Hurricanes defenders leapt for the ball. Chaos ensued.

Miami’s Isaiah Horton, a wide receiver who was on the field for the final defensive play, ran out of the end zone with the ball in his hands. The Hard Rock Stadium lights dimmed. The crowd roared.

Miami won, right?

Not so fast.

The referees ruled the play a walk-off touchdown to Da’Quan Felton.

So Virginia Tech won, right?

Not so fast.

The final play then went under review.

What followed over the next few minutes was a mixture of nerves, emotions and anxiety. Wide receiver Xavier Restrepo prayed. Linebacker Francisco Mauigoa kept looking up at the video board to see the replay.

“Just pain,” Ward said. “You ain’t got no control of the game. You leave it up to the white hats; that’s a position you don’t want to be in.”

As for Cristobal?

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

The referees agreed, overturning the call. Miami, finally, is deemed the winner.

“I can’t even put it to words, honestly,” tight end Elijah Arroyo said. “I’m sitting there. I was nervous, happy, excited. It was a crazy feeling.”

The ACC’s official statement on the matter: “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.”

The rally back

The decision sealed the Hurricanes’ comeback win, one that saw Miami have to play a nearly flawless finish to pull it out.

After turning the ball over three times earlier in the game (two interceptions and a fumble), Ward led touchdown drives of 89, 70 and 57 yards on Miami’s final three possessions and the defense held Virginia to just seven points in that span to allow the Hurricanes to complete the comeback.

The final drive was a masterpiece. Ward completed 5 of 6 passes for 53 yards, including a 4-yard completion on fourth down to Restrepo who was on his back and a chest pass to Riley Williams after evading two sacks to set up a 1-yard touchdown pass to Horton.

The other two Miami touchdown drives in the second half ended with a 17-yard Ward touchdown run and a 6-yard pass to tight end Cam McCormick.

Ward finished the game completing 24 of 38 passes for 343 yards and four touchdowns while running for a fifth. He has thrown for at least 300 yards and three touchdowns in all five games of his UM career.

The defense did its part as well, sniffing out a fake field goal attempt to force a turnover on downs before the first of those three touchdown drives, forcing a three-and-out between the second and third touchdown drives and, eventually, coming up on the winning end of the final play.

“It was that kind of night, it really was,” Cristobal said. “It was the kind of the night where [it’s like] man, is this going to happen. ... There’s a lot of faith and a lot of trust that they’re going to find a way to get it done. These guys, they’re resilient. They just go. They go.”

What needs to be fixed

The late comeback was needed after the Hurricanes were uncharacteristically sloppy to start the game.

Ward missed throws early. The defense missed tackles. The offensive line missed assignments. Momentum was inconsistent.

Miami trailed 24-17 at halftime, 27-17 early in the third quarter and 34-24 with 12:05 left to play.

“We all leaned on each other,” Bryant said. “We just knew what we needed to get done.”

They got it done, but they will be back to the drawing board before they take their cross-country trip next weekend to face Cal on Oct. 5.

“There’s a lot to learn off this film,” Cristobal said. “It’s one of those days where you are fortunate enough where you can learn a lot of your lessons without having to suffer the consequence of a loss. We turned the ball over uncharacteristically. We had some pressure on our own quarterback. We had about five guys go down on defense. A lot of guys had to step up and some were ready and some battled hard but not quite as ready as those front-line guys. I thought we lacked a little juice early on, so we’ve got to look at the week of preparation. We thought we were very well-prepared. Practices were good. We gave enough rest and practice balance time. But a lot of credit to just the resiliency of the team.”