As a Miami football fan since childhood, Duke graduate and sports editor of The Chronicle during Coach Cut's second season in Durham, I have a unique perspective on every game involving the 'Canes and Blue Devils. I would urge everyone furious with Saturday's result to do one thing: realize that before Duke got cheated, Miami did as well.
Lost in the chaos and uproar about whether Mark Walton's knee was down (it was) is the fact that Duke QB Thomas Sirk almost definitely did not score on the previous play and that Miami was called for multiple very doubtful pass interference calls on that same drive. The Hurricanes were called for the most penalties in the history of the school and the ACC, and the second most ever, a ridiculous 23. If anyone thinks the refs got all those right, I have some beachfront property in Durham I'd like to sell you. More importantly, once his rage dies down, I have no doubt Coach Cut will look back and tell his team that, if you lose a game in which the other team is penalized 23 times, you only have yourself to blame.
The ACC rightfully suspended the referees who called the Duke-Miami game; those guys were awful and deserve their punishment. But both teams got screwed as a result, not just one, and Duke would never have even been in a position to get back in the game if the team hadn't benefitted from a number of bad calls. That's why I think it's disingenuous for Blue Devil fans to complain about the one big one that went against them.
Gabe Starosta
T’10
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