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Miami Hurricanes

Miami benefitted from controversial targeting decision in late comeback over Cal

Cory Nightingale

By Cory Nightingale

Published:

Miami looked to be in serious trouble out in Berkeley late Saturday night, but the Hurricanes staged a furious 4th-quarter rally to steal a 39-38 victory over Cal — and for the 2nd straight week, a controversial call helped Miami escape and stay unbeaten.

The Hurricanes might not have even gotten the ball back to score the touchdown with 26 seconds left that lifted them to victory had they not escaped a potential targeting call. Instead, the officials ruled there was no targeting on Miami with a little under 2 minutes left in Saturday night’s game, and so Cal was forced to punt the ball back to the Hurricanes.

Here’s a clip of the play in question:

Miami said thank you very much, took the ball and scored late to complete a comeback from down 25 points and improve to 6-0. ESPN announcer Brock Osweiler questioned the officials’ decision to not call targeting, and also questioned whether the 2 calls the past 2 weeks that benefitted the Hurricanes were the right calls.

“Back-to-back weeks Miami is in a situation where it comes down to replay and you question if the officials are getting the calls correct. I do not know by the definition of the rulebook, how that is not targeting,” said Osweiler.

In Week 5, the Hurricanes were spared a stunning defeat at home against unranked Virginia Tech and instead escaped with a 38-34 victory.

One week later, about 3,000 miles away, the officials’ late call went Miami’s way again, and the Hurricanes stayed unbeaten going into a bye week.

Cory Nightingale

Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.

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