Brent Pry demands better from the ACC.
The Virginia Tech coach called out the league’s referees after a controversial overturned call on a Hail Mary stole a game-winning touchdown from the Hokies and allowed Miami to escape with a 38-34 win.
The referees initially ruled a touchdown only to overturn the call upon video review and declare that the pass had not been completed.
Pry said the referees did not provide him an explanation on the field or in the locker room after the game Friday night and he only learned why the call had been overturned when the ACC released what he called a “confusing, at best” statement after 1 a.m. Saturday morning.
“I was finally contacted Monday morning, which was a solicited contact, by the head of officials for the ACC,” Pry said Tuesday. “I asked for an explanation and the video that they viewed that merited overturning the call with indisputable evidence. The explanation was that there was a loose ball that was touched by a Miami defender who was out of bounds. The video showed nothing new, nothing that none of us hadn’t seen already. The words used with me were ‘interpretation’ and ‘hard to find,’ which, to me, neither one aligns with indisputable.
“I watched the video that they watched. If it was ruled a catch, I don’t see how you overturn it. There’s no evidence. If it was ruled not a catch, I don’t see how you overturn it. You can’t see enough to tell.”
Virginia Tech thought it had escaped with one of the biggest upsets of the season in Miami Gardens, Fla., when the referees initially ruled Hokies receiver Da’Quan Felton had come down with a Hail Mary attempt from quarterback Kyron Drones as time expired.
While an argument could be made that the play lacked conclusive evidence to overturn the call, the referees ruled the pass incomplete.
Pry said after the game that he did not believe enough evidence existed to warrant overturning the call but he hoped the referees got it right since they were taking away a monumental moment from his team, while Miami coach Mario Cristobal said he thought it was incomplete.
The ACC waited some time before releasing its statement on why the call got overturned.
“During the review process of the last play of the Virginia Tech at Miami game, it was determined that the loose ball was touched by a Miami player while he was out of bounds which makes it an incomplete pass and immediately ends the play,” the league’s statement said, per ESPN.
Virginia Tech (2-3) will try to rebound and win its first conference matchup Saturday on the road against Stanford, while No. 8. Miami (5-0) heads west to battle California.
“I feel for our players, our fans, but we’ve turned the page,” Pry said. “We turned the page Sunday evening in an aggressive manner with our players, with our staff, with our media, with our player parents, with our own wives, with everybody.”