It was evident that Miami football didn't meet the standard on Friday night. Nonetheless, the Hurricanes are still unbeaten, led by Heisman frontrunner Cam Ward and head coach Mario Cristobal after escaping with a narrow Week 5 victory over Virginia Tech.

In a back-and-forth game where Miami had to work extra hard to erase a 24-17 halftime deficit against their opponent, there was no way that players would leave the field without first being apart of a dramatic finish.

The upset from the Hokies looked imminent in the fourth quarter, when wide receiver Ayden Greene hauled in a 16-yard-pass from Kyron Drones to extend their lead to 34-24. Little did they know, that would be their last time reaching the end zone for the night.

Miami's offense responded with back-to-back scores from Cam McCormick and Isaiah Horton. Following Horton's touchdown, Virginia Tech drove down the field on a final drive, and took one last shot through the air at Miami's 30-yard line.

The initial ruling was a touchdown from Drones to Da'Quan Felton. Game over, and upset complete. However, it didn't end that way.

The referees ordered players back to their sidelines so the TD could be reviewed, which later was cleared up in a statement from the ACC, per Manny Navarro's post on X, formerly Twitter. It was determined that loose ball on the reviewable catch was touched by a Miami player while he was out of bounds, making it an incomplete pass and ending the play.

Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry wasn't happy after the call that gave his team the loss in the hard-fought contest, hoping that the officials made the “right” call, per ESPN's Andrea Adelson.

“The way the game ended, I hope they got that call right,” Pry said after the game. “To take that, to overturn it and take it from our kids, our coaches, our fans, I hope they got it right.”

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Pry asked officials when the play ended, “How did you rule it?”

“He said, ‘Touchdown,'” Pry continued. “Normally, when you look at something that long, it does not get overturned. I didn't think there was enough evidence to overturn it. So, like I said, I hope they got it right.”

It was a devastating loss for a Hokies squad that battled hard all night and deserved to get the win on the primetime stage.

What's next for Miami football?

Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward (1) looks on from the field as officials review the last play of the game against the Virginia Tech Hokies at Hard Rock Stadium.
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The Hurricanes are 5-0 for the first time since 2017. Ward proved his excellence yet again on Friday night, and he made a huge statement to the Heisman committee that he's more than just a stats guy against weaker opponents. He's also a clutch winner in big games.

Miami football will have a nice break to get rested before traveling to play California for another tough matchup on October 5.