Cutcliffe at a loss after Duke’s stunning finish, 30-27 loss to Miami

Where do you start? What can you say?

Duke coach David Cutcliffe was clearly upset with the officiating Saturday after Miami’s wild 30-27 victory, after one of those plays that will live forever.

“Disappointed is not even close to being a good-enough word to describe this moment,” he said.

The 22nd-ranked Blue Devils had rallied to take a 27-24 lead with six seconds remaining, on Thomas Sirk’s 1-yard run and then Sirk’s two-point conversion run. All that was needed to cap off a fourth-quarter comeback from a 24-12 deficit was a squib kick, good coverage and a tackle on the ensuing kickoff, and the Devils would move into the Coastal Division showdown with North Carolina with matching 4-0 ACC records.

“But crazy stuff happens in college football and that’s what happened at the end,” Sirk said.

Miami fielded the kickoff at its 25 and began to lateral. Eight laterals. Improvising, throwing the ball around, all the way back to the Miami 3-yard line. Backyard stuff.

There were blocks being thrown by the Canes and mayhem on the field. It was Cal-Stanford all over again, without the band in the end zone at the end of The Play.

Was Miami’s Mark Walton’s knee down during the runback, while making a lateral amid the craziness? Cutcliffe thought so. A block in the back, or maybe more than one? The Blue Devils thought so and there was a flag on the field after Miami’s Corn Elder sauntered into the end zone to complete a 75-yard return with no time on the clock.

Then there was the long, long official review of the play. Finally, an announcement by referee Jerry Magallanes was made that it was determined no knee was down, there was no penalty on the runback and the game was over — Miami the winner.

“No one explained to me exactly what happened,” Cutcliffe said. “I heard exactly what you all heard. I got no explanation on the sideline. They made the announcement you heard and they ran off the field. … The lack of communication was really disappointing.

“You’re not supposed to criticize officials (but) I’m going to criticize officials. Someone needs to explain to me what’s right in that situation, that I’m left standing there.”

Cutcliffe said officials are allowed to confer on the field about a penalty, and can pick up a flag. But not an official review of the penalty that reverses it, he said. That’s not allowed by the rules, he said.

“I didn’t see (officials conferring). The flag laid out there a long time,” he said. “What was explained at the end over the loud speaker was that in the review the block was on the side.

“I’d like the whole play reviewed, in detail. I thought there were other questionable blocks. I’ll just tell you like it is, I thought the guy was down and I think pictures will prove me right, that he was down … when he lateraled the ball.”

Cutcliffe said there were several officiating issues in the game that need to be “addressed by the conference.”

“Call the ACC. They should have answers,” he said.

Cutcliffe said he also had no answers for his team after the game, which he said “spilled its guts on the field,” and with North Carolina next Duke was “moving forward.”

While the Blue Devils (6-2, 3-1 ACC) had problems against a Miami team dealing with the dismissal Monday of head coach Al Golden after a 58-0 loss to Clemson, interim head coach Larry Scott had his team ready to play and freshman Malik Rosier executed the offense well enough, passing for 272 yards and two touchdowns.

Running back Joe Yearby hurt the Devils with 82 yards rushing. Wide receivers Stacy Coley and Herb Waters made TD grabs.

“Miami played well and is every bit as talented as I thought and knew they were,” Cutcliffe said. “They played hard and we played hard.”

Talk about irony. The Hurricanes began the game by losing a fumble on the opening kickoff, then ended it with the amazing touchdown on the last kickoff.

“It was like the old ‘hot potato’ game,” Scott said of the last runback. “That’s how it kind of worked out. They just kept playing and believing.”

Talk about what-ifs. After recovering that first fumble at the Miami 15, Duke had first-and-goal at the Miami 3 and could not score. Given the Canes’ tough week and the big loss to Clemson, a quick strike by Duke might have been demoralizing for the Canes.

The Blue Devils, coming off a 45-43 four-overtime win at Virginia Tech, were riding a wave of confidence. But the Canes staged a goal-line stand, stopping Parker Boehme on fourth down from the 1, then took a 14-3 halftime lead.

“I’ve never been in a game like this one,” Cutcliffe said.

Or been a part of a play quite like the last one.

“You don’t ever want to be on that end or be a part of that, to be reminded of it regularly, on the ESPYs and everything else,” Cutcliffe said.

What did Cutcliffe tell his team when it was over?

“He stressed that we could not let this define the rest of our season,” senior safety Jeremy Cash said. “Learn from it and prepare for Carolina.”

This story was originally published November 1, 2015 at 1:14 AM with the headline "Cutcliffe at a loss after Duke’s stunning finish, 30-27 loss to Miami."