The Worst Loss in Football History? Fans, Announcers, Players Left Stunned After Agonizing Blunder Leads to Unbelievable Ending
If you happen to have any Miami Hurricane football fans in your life, you may want to give them a little extra space and time today.
Because the Hurricanes just suffered one of the most gut-wrenching, brutal, and self-inflicted losses — perhaps in all of football history — on Saturday night.
The Hurricanes were upset 23-20 when they played the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets yesterday, and any loss would’ve been rough enough.
Miami was the 17th ranked team in the nation, and undefeated, going into Saturday, and should have handily beaten 2-3 Georgia Tech.
(The Hurricanes nearly doubled up the Yellow Jackets in total yardage, 454-250, and first downs, 23-12, to give you an idea of how handily they should have won.)
But not only did they lose, Miami quite literally snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in doing so — giving late-night college football viewers one of the darndest endings to a football game they’d ever seen.
With precious little time remaining in the football game, and clinging to a 20-17 lead, Miami had the following options given that Georgia Tech was either out of timeouts or had just one (Per ESPN, it’s unclear due to a conflicting scoreboard and play-by-play) to stop the clock:
- Kneel the football, letting the clock either run out or effectively run out.
- Run a play, risk a turnover, and flirt with disaster.
Instead of choosing the option that even people who’ve only ever played video game football would’ve chosen, Miami head coach Mario Cristobal, apparently, chose the latter — and disaster flirted back.
Miami running back Don Chaney Jr. ran a play — and fumbled the ball away.
Georgia Tech then traversed the majority of the field in half a minute, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with just seconds left on the clock, and would hold on for the win as hook-and-lateral heroics from Miami would prove futile.
It was as devastating and dumbfounding a loss as any football team has suffered, perhaps ever.
It’s certainly the worst loss in early October college football history.
But it wasn’t just fans who were despondent over this catastrophic loss. Players and announcers were stunned at everything that had transpired in roughly 30 seconds of in-game time.
“That’s one of the biggest coaching mistakes at this level that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”
Miami could’ve taken a knee and closed out Georgia Tech. Instead … disaster struck 😳 pic.twitter.com/I5vAvtn78p
— ESPN (@espn) October 8, 2023
“That’s one of the biggest coaching mistakes at this level that I have ever seen in my lifetime,” one of the ESPN announcers said.
Miami Hurricanes center Matt Lee, a senior, was very clearly cursing when the sideline cameras caught him.
— ok man (@sportsguy839303) October 8, 2023
“What the f*** are we doing?” a demonstrably emotional Lee was seen saying on the sidelines, as the game was all but assured to end in a loss for the Hurricanes.
Miami will have to get over this unforgettable loss quickly, as the team travels to face the North Carolina Tar Heels on Oct. 14.
Georgia Tech, meanwhile, will have an extra week to savor the wild win, as the team doesn’t play again until it hosts Boston College on Oct. 21.
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