Heading into the midnight hour Saturday evening, No. 9 USC and No. 17 Miami had finally seemed to overcome unexpected dogfights from respective 2-3 opponents, Arizona and Georgia Tech — the Trojans had lined up a game-winning chip shot field goal while the ‘Canes could kneel out a narrow victory.
However, a string of baffling late-game executions suddenly left USC heading for overtime and Miami destined for defeat. Here’s what you need to know about each of these thrilling endings below:
End-of-game miscalculation hands Georgia Tech last-second win over Miami
Eyes strained from staring down the clock at Hard Rock Stadium, which had just mercifully slipped beneath 40 seconds, and with their pesky Yellow Jacket opposition finally bled of timeouts, the Hurricane faithful could finally exhale and watch No. 17 Miami encircle quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to kneel out a 20-17 victory.
Only… that never happened.
Van Dyke retreated to his standard shotgun depth, joined in the backfield only by running back Donald Chaney Jr., and handed the ball off to give Georgia Tech’s opportunistic defense, which had forced two turnovers in the last 20 minutes, one more unnecessary crack at the football. And as Chaney’s torso hovered mere inches from certain victory, the persevering paws of Paul Moala ripped the football free and gave Georgia Tech a glimmer of hope.
“All that was going through my mind was, ‘We gotta get that ball out,'” Maola said after the game. “Being actually involved in the win was something that was truly a blessing.”
Trailing by three and marooned 74 yards from the end zone with 25 seconds remaining however, Miami still found themselves in an optimal position to stave off a last-gasp Yellow Jacket attack and — eventually — laugh off coach Mario Cristobal’s clock management blunder. Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King quickly showed his clutch-time chops, however, overcoming a quick incompletion to find Malik Rutherford for a 30-yard connection into UM territory.
And with ten seconds remaining from the 44-yard line, optimistically time for two plays to get into field goal range, King found the end zone in one. Rolling out right from the fast-approaching Miami pass rush, King connected with a wide-open Christian Leary, whose touchdown slide prompted a flurry of jubilant Georgia Tech dogpilers and half-drank water bottles flung by frustrated Miami faithful.
“We should have taken a knee,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal told the press. “We had a pretty good drive going and wanted to keep the pile moving, not going to make any excuses for it.”
Fitting with the chaos, Miami’s lateral attempt advanced all the way to the Georgia Tech 35-yard line, but eventually resulted in a fumble — the Canes’ fifth turnover on the evening — to seal 2-3 Georgia Tech’s stunning comeback against previously undefeated Miami.
No. 9 USC staves off Coliseum shocker against Arizona in triple overtime
Much like their blue-blooded counterparts across the country, turbulent late-game execution saw No. 9 Southern Cal snatch defeat, or in this case overtime from the jaws of victory against Arizona Saturday night.
A bizarre night for reigning Heisman winner Caleb Williams, in which he attempted just 20 passes in regulation, nearly turned disastrous as he fumbled the snap at the mesh point and fortuitously dove on the football. After USC strangely lined up to spike the ball, coach Lincoln Riley finally called the team’s final timeout and set up a game-winning 25-yard chip shot tied at 28.
However, a high snap and an impossible hold left kicker Denis Lynch only able to stab at the ball with his foot, offering up free football to the stunned fans at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
As they had all evening, Arizona went blow-for-blow with the dynamic USC offense, finding the end zone on its first overtime possession in just one throw and kicking off the second overtime with a five-play touchdown drive. However, an attempted pitch play for Arizona’s two-point conversion in the third overtime went horribly wrong, sparing the Trojans’ blushes and improving them to 6-0 on the season.
2023-10-08 14:04:06
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