Joel Klatt Reveals His Thoughts On Controversial Virginia Tech vs Miami Ending
It was one of the most exciting games of the 2024 college football season, but one of the most controversial. It looked like Virginia Tech had defeated Miami and pulled off a huge upset, but the officials reversed their call of a touchdown on a Kyron Drones hail mary and the Hokies lost and dropped to 2-3 this season. There have been a lot of opinions coming in on the call reversal, including from Fox Sports Joel Klatt, one of the most respected voices in college football. Here is what Klatt had to say about the ending to Miami vs Virginia Tech on the Joel Klatt Show:
“I mean do any of us really trust that Virginia Tech didn’t catch that Hail Mary in the back of the end zone?
Folks: One, I don’t know how you just signal touchdown that late. People are celebrating. Is it a touchdown? And all the sudden his arms just kind of go up, like no one’s going to see him. Touchdown? Almost like it was a question. I’m Ron Burgundy? So now it’s a touchdown and it’s like, ‘Well, we’ve got to review it.’ Then they overturn the Ron Burgundy touchdown. And then it’s like overruled. It’s like hold on, hold on. How did both of those calls get made? I think both of them are probably wrong. It’s probably not a catch, but you can’t overturn it if that’s the way it’s called. I think it was all wrong, and it calls into question, by the way, what I’ve been banging on for a long time, why do we have conference officials and not national officials?
Because it at least can bring up the element of a conflict of interest,” he explained. “And I’m not suggesting that there’s a conflict of interest here, but in a day and age in which conferences are highly competitive with each other for spots in the playoff, for revenue, for all of it, all of it. They’re just highly competitive with each other.
And now all the sudden you get your officials and your replay center involved in a call with the team that is your highest-ranked team. That is a conflict of interest. This is why we should change the way that we have officials slated and governed in college football. It should be a national officiating body in college football"
Our own RJ Schafer broke down the decision to overturn the call at the end of the game:
"Virginia Tech's last drive began with less than two minutes on the clock, and the Hokies trailed by four, so a touchdown was needed. The drive was methodical, starting off with a seven yard pass to Da'Quan Felton, a six yard pass to Stephen Gosnell, and a four yard pass to Da'Quan Felton.
At this time though, a significant amount of time ran down the clock. The Hokies would be left at their own 42 yard-line with less than 40 seconds to go.
It seemed like all hope was gone, but Kyron Drones helped lead his team down the field again. He gained twenty-nine yards over the next thirty three seconds, which left Virginia Tech with one shot at the end-zone--a hail mary situation.
Kyron Drones dropped back, had a clean pocket, and on the left side of the end-zone, Da'Quan Felton, Jaylin Lane, and Bhayshul Tuten were all in one area.
Drones sent it, hoping that one of them would catch it.
One of them did, supposedly.
It first seemed like Virginia Tech had lost the game, as Miami pulled away with the ball and stormed the field. The game wasn't over yet, the officials still were debating calls and called the play on the field as a touchdown.
With the call on the field being a touchdown, any video review would have to show undeniable evidence that Felton did not catch the ball to overturn or reverse the call.
That never happened, is it possible he didn't catch the ball? Yes. Was there indisputable and undeniable video evidence? No. I'm not one to blame referees for games, especially because teams can definitely get opportunities to put themselves ahead, but in a game like this, that was Virginia Tech's chance.
There was not enough evidence to say he didn't catch the ball, and that's why the replay process was so long, because likely there was a debate between how they felt about the call and if there was actually evidence to overturn the call.
Virginia Tech should've won this game."
Jackson Caudell has been covering Georgia Tech Athletics For On SI since March 2022 and the Atlanta Hawks for On SI since October 2023. Jackson is also the co-host of the Bleav in Georgia Tech podcast and he loves to bring thoughtful analysis and comprehensive coverage to everything that he does. Find him on X @jacksoncaudell