The No. 7-ranked Miami Hurricanes escaped a nearly miraculous last-second touchdown pass against the Virginia Tech Hokies on Friday night.
The final play was the subject of much scrutiny as officials overturned a touchdown called on the field, citing an out-of-bounds player touched the ball before possession was secured. While fans focus much of their strife on the call that ended the game, “College GameDay” co-host Nick Saban says the biggest officiating mistake happened right before the end of the third quarter.
The Hokies thought they were going to go into the fourth with a 10-point lead after reeling off a 61-yard touchdown run, but officials wiped it off the board due to holding. The officials are among the few who feel there was actually a penalty on that play, and Saban is not one of them.
Saban expressed his disappointment describing the holding call as a good football play, not a penalty.
“One of the things that used to really gripe me as a coach, the holding call that we saw, the official sees a guy go down,” Saban said. “Sometimes you just make a good block especially when you have a good offensive line, they see the guy go down and they’re like, ‘He must have held them,’ and they throw the flag.”