Looking for a fresh start with ACC play beginning, Virginia Tech football coach Brent Pry had a few trick plays up his sleeve for No. 7 Miami Friday night. With the way the first four games had gone, disappointing losses to Vanderbilt and Rutgers and wins over Marshall and Old Dominion, anything was on the table for the third-year head coach.
Pry and his staff went down to South Florida with a game plan and executed it well throughout the game. They limited mistakes and took advantage of turnovers by the Hurricanes. The biggest turnover happened in the third quarter and it allowed the Hokies to blow the game open.
Leading 27-17 and Miami driving, Miami transfer Kaleb Spencer had an interception of Cam Ward at the Hokies' 3-yard line and returned it deep into Miami territory. The Hokies had a chance to go up three scores with a touchdown and 13 with a field goal. They faced a 4th down and attempted a chip shot field goal by John Love.
Instead of taking the three points and building the lead to 13 points, Pry called for a fake field goal. It didn't work. Miami blew up the play, got a tackle short of the first down marker, and forced a turnover on downs. After a 38-34 loss that ended on a conversial ending of an overturned touchdown, Pry explained why he called for the fake field goal rather than taking the three points.
The Explanation Behind the Gamble
I get it, you wanted to catch Miami off guard, however, you're doing it behind a line that has been shaky at best all season long. Miami was getting good pentration all night and did so to force the turnover on downs.
The Costly Turnover
Miami, which marched down the field on the ensuing possession for a touchdown and 10-point swing, took a 38-34 lead with just under two minutes left and Virginia Tech drove to the Hurricanes 38 with three seconds left. Instead of needing a touchdown, if they took the three points with Love, they would have only needed a field goal from him on the game's final play. He made kicks of 57 and 52 yards in the game. Instead, they needed a Hail Mary which fell short. Oh, what could have been.
Shockingly, the Virginia Tech Hokies found themselves up 10 points on the No. 7 Miami Hurricanes as the end of the third quarter approached. As it looked like the Hokies marched down the field once again, the Canes were finally able to slow the offensive unit down. Virginia Tech was lined up for a relatively short field goal attempt to add 3 points to the already 10-point lead, and the Hokies... decided to run a fake.
The fake field goal attempt immediately blew up in Virginia Tech's face and instead of tacking on additional points, the Hokies turned the ball over on downs. Unsurprisingly, football fans (of Virginia Tech, Miami, or anyone else) immediately took to social media to bombard VT about the decision.
The Twitterverse Reacts
[Virginia tech wins the award for worst fake field goal in football history
Why in the world did Virginia Tech go for the fake FG there?
To put it simply, people couldn't wrap their heads around why head coach Brent Pry hadn't simply taken the (almost guaranteed) 3 points.
Virginia Tech is up 10 and they attempted a fake field goal??? These head coaches really be bozos, man 🤣🤣🤣
Virginia Tech’s fake field goal attempt… yikes pic.twitter.com/I4WHQSEF1K](https://saturdayblitz.com/posts/fans-react-to-virginia-tech-s-absolute-failure-of-a-fake-field-goal-attempt-01j8v64sqyrf)
After the blown-up fake field goal attempt, the Hurricanes immediately started storming down the field, towards additional points of their own. Over just eight plays, Miami's quarterback Cam Ward found the end zone and the extra point was good.
Just like that, the Canes were within three of the Hokies and, all of a sudden, there was a ball game afoot. Whoever called that Virginia Tech fake field goal needs to be fired. So stupid and unnecessary.
Unbelievably bad call to run a fake field goal there for Virginia Tech. You’re an away team going against one of the better offenses in College Football. They just gifted you amazing field position off another turnover.Take the points.
Lessons Learned
The moral of the story is that if you're up by double digits on a top-ten team, maybe take any additional points you can get. When Virginia Tech didn't follow that unwritten rule, the game saw a 10-point swing and a Miami home crowd that was reinvigorated. Not to mention, this was Miami's attempt at starting its season 5-0 for the first time in the program's long and illustrious history.
On 3rd and 1, Miami called a play-action, and the fake handoff by Cam Ward fooled the entire Hokies defense leaving no one to tight end Elijah Arroyo who ran right down the center of the field with no defenders around him. It was an easy toss over the defense from Ward to Arroyo for a 43-yard touchdown. The ACC Digital Network (theACCDN) is a project of Raycom Sports, a long-time television producer and partner of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The cross-platform digital video network covers the spectrum of one of the nation’s top intercollegiate athletic conferences, featuring...
While Pry's decision to go for the fake field goal may have been a calculated risk, it ultimately cost his team the game. The Hokies had a chance to put Miami away, but the failed attempt gave the Hurricanes the momentum they needed to pull off the comeback victory. For Virginia Tech, the game serves as a reminder that sometimes, the safest bet is to take the points and trust in your defense to shut down the other team. In the end, this play will be a talking point for the rest of the season.
