MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Cam Ward found Isaiah Horton with a 1-yard touchdown pass with 1:57 left for what became the winning score, and No. 7 Miami rallied to beat Virginia Tech 38-34 in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams on Friday night.
The ending was controversial: Officials deemed that Da’Quan Felton caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Kyron Drones amid a crowd of players from both teams as time expired, which would have given Virginia Tech the win. The call was overturned after a long review.
Ward threw for 343 yards and four touchdowns, extending his national lead to 18 scoring throws so far this season. The Hurricanes (5-0, 1-0) trailed by double digits on three separate occasions, the last of those when the Hokies went up 34-24 with 12:05 left.
But Miami found a way at the end — barely — to win its ACC opener for the first time in four years and remain unbeaten.
Drones threw two touchdown passes, while Bhayshul Tuten rushed for 141 yards and another score for Virginia Tech (2-3, 0-1).
John Love had field goals of 52 and 56 yards for Virginia Tech. The Hokies turned three Miami turnovers into 14 points and seemed poised to knock off a team ranked 7th or higher in the AP Top 25 for the first time since Oct. 2, 2004 — a 19-13 win over then-No. 6 West Virginia.
But needing a touchdown on the final drive to pull the upset off, Virginia Tech got to the Miami 30 and nearly got the winning score.
On the go-ahead drive, Miami escaped disaster — twice. Xavier Restrepo fell down on a fourth-and-3 play with the ball already headed his way, and he somehow caught it while on the ground to extend the possession. And on first down a couple minutes later, Ward was getting dragged down by Virginia Tech’s Keyshawn Burgos for what looked like a certain sack.
Except it wasn’t. Ward got free of that tackle, broke another and flipped the ball to Riley Williams for what became a 26-yard gain to the 1-yard line. The Hurricanes scored a play later, and the defense finished it off.
Virginia Tech: The night could have been worse. Defensive end Antwaun Powell-Ryland — who entered the game as the national leader with six sacks and he pushed that total to seven on Friday — left in the second half because of injury. He walked into the locker room area for evaluation, accompanied by a member of the Hokies' staff.
Miami: The Hurricanes snuffed out a fake field goal try in the second half, one that came from chip-shot range for Virginia Tech. Had the Hokies taken the three points there, all they would have needed on the final drive was another field goal and not a touchdown. There was another big special-teams play as well — Andy Borregales' 56-yard field goal to end the first half loomed large by night's end.
Miami escaped what would have been a damaging loss in the AP Top 25 when the poll gets updated on Sunday. The Hurricanes should remain in the Top 10.
Virginia Tech: Visit Stanford on Oct. 5.
Miami: Visit Cal on Oct. 5.
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