Miami lost to Georgia Tech in the last gas turnover, after refusing to kneel to end the game instead, they chose to run the ball and they messed up.
Georgia Tech capitalized on the epic blunder and turned the game around.
Haynes King threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Christian Leary with one second remaining after Miami turned the ball over with the game all but won, and Georgia Tech startled the 17th-ranked Hurricanes 23-20 on Saturday night.
If the Hurricanes had knelt, they would likely run out the clock, win the game, and remain unbeaten. But they chose not to.
“Not going to make an excuse for it, say we should’ve done this or that,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said of not taking a knee.
“That’s it. We should’ve done it. Sometimes you get carried away with just, finishing the game and running it. I should’ve stepped in and said, ‘Hey, just take a knee.'”
King threw an incomplete pass under pressure on the first down of the last drive then connected with Malik Rutherford for a 30-yard gain.
“I felt it as soon as it left my fingers,” King said.
Tyler Van Dyke threw for 288 yards but was intercepted three times for Miami.
Xavier Restrepo caught 12 passes for 144 yards for the Hurricanes, who got a rushing score from Henry Parrish.
Miami outgained Georgia Tech 454-250 and had 23 first downs to the Yellow Jackets’ 12, but they still lost the game.
Miami had scored in all 16 quarters it had played in the first four games and came into the night as one of three teams nationally to post at least 38 points in every game this season.
