Two Wild Endings Highlight College Football's Freaky Friday; Huskies Go Down at Rutgers

There's something about those Thursday, Friday and late-night games in college football that promotes weirdness and the unexpected. Last night #7 Miami won 38-34 in Hard Rock Stadium when a last second Virginia Tech Hail Mary, ruled a catch on the field, was overturned on replay as a Miami defender appeared to wrestle the ball away on the ground at the end of the play.

Va Tech coach Brent Pry said after the game, “That’s a tough one, right there. The way the 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.”

“I'm very proud of our team and our coaches. [We’re] much closer to the team that we need to be week in and week out.”

Heisman favorite and Hurricane quarterback Cam Ward led a 14-point comeback in the fourth quarter after fumbling twice and throwing two interceptions. The Hokies led 34-24 with 12:05 to play when Kyron Drones connected on a 16-yard pass to Ayden Greene before Ward put together two touchdown drives, one ending in a 6-yard scoring pass to former Duck Cam McCormick in the back of the end zone. On the night Ward hit 24-38 throws for 343 yards and four TDs, ran for 57 yards and a 17-yard score.

Further north, first-year head coach Jedd Fisch's Washington squad shot itself in the foot repeatedly in a 21-18 loss at 4-0 Rutgers, falling to 3-2 as junior kicker Grady Gross hooked three field goals, including a 55-yarder on the final play of the game that would have sent it into overtime.

Washington outgained the Scarlet Knights 521-299, but the Huskies were plagued by untimely penalties, missed tackles and Red Zone failures in the agonizing loss.

The Huskies drove to the Rutgers 37 with the opening kickoff but turned the ball over on downs when Will Rogers' pass fell incomplete on 4th and two.

A pass tipped at the line cost them one touchdown on another 4th and goal at the two. A personal foul penalty stalled another drive that reached the 13, followed by the first of the missed field goals.

In the second quarter trailing 7-3, UW blocked a field goal but freshman Vincent Holmes left the sideline to join in the celebration, resulting in an illegal substitution penalty, giving the home team a first down. On the very next play quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis pass completed a pass to Ian Strong in the left corner of the end zone, 15 yds for a touchdown and a 14-3 lead, 30 seconds before halftime.

In the 4th, Rutgers running back Samuel Brown broke a tackle and ran for a 37-yard TD on 3rd and 4 to give the Scarlet Knights a 21-10 lead in the 4th quarter with 10:57 to play.

Two TD passes from Rogers to Denzel Boston got the Huskies back in the game, but in the end they could not outrun their errors and missed opportunities.