ACC suspends on-field officials, replay officials after wild Miami-Duke finish

The ACC announced Sunday it has suspended the on-field officiating crew as well as the replay official and communicator for two games following errors on the final wild play that gave Miami a 30-27 win over Dukeon Saturday.

The outcome of the game cannot be changed, but Duke coach David Cutcliffe said later Sunday that maybe it's time for that to change as the Blue Devils (6-2, 3-1) fell out of a potential tie for the lead in the ACC's Coastal Division.

The ACC acknowledged a series of errors during the play, which featured eight laterals off a Duke kickoff and ended with a 91-yard touchdown run by theHurricanes'Corn Elder.

"Unfortunately there is no mechanism that I know of in place to reverse an outcome of a game. I do believe there should be," Cutcliffe said Sunday. "If we're going to use instant replay ... All this occurred after everything had happened on the field. What instant replay is in place for is to get it right, and we did not get it right. I'm venting a little bit still. I hurt badly for our players."

Cutcliffe said he's heard from a "multitude" of coaches and hopes this starts a conversation that could eventually lead to overturning an outcome in similar situations.

"The quality of our officiating program is of the highest importance to the league and its schools, and the last play of the game was not handled appropriately," ACC commissioner John Swofford said in a statement. "Officiating is an extraordinarily difficult job, but our players, coaches, programs and fans deserve the best that can be offered. We will continue to strive to meet that standard."

The list of officiating errors acknowledged by the ACC:

Replay official Andrew Panucci should have ruled Miami back Mark Walton was down before releasing the ball on one of the laterals. If the proper call had been made, the game would have ended in a Duke victory.

Said Cutcliffe after the game: "I'm going to just tell you like it is: I thought the guy was down. And I think pictures will prove me right."

The on-field officials failed to penalize Miami for an illegal block in the back at the Miami 16-yard line. If called, the ball would have been placed at the Miami 8-yard line and the game would have been extended for an untimed down.

The on-field crew failed to penalize Miami receiver Rashawn Scott for leaving the bench and running onto the field before the play ended. The penalty would not have negated the touchdown because it would have been enforced as a dead ball foul.

The block in the back penalty that was called -- at the Duke 26-yard line -- was picked up after the officials conferred, which is appropriate. They correctly determined that the block was from the side. The replay official was not involved in the decision to pick up the flag; however, referee Jerry Magallanes did not effectively manage communication and properly explain why the flag was picked up.

With the victory, the Hurricanes improved to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the ACC.

The University of Miami's official athletic department Twitter account didn't take long to weigh in after the ACC's announcement.

The officiating crew included Magallanes, Terrence Ramsay (umpire), Mike Owens (linesman), Jim Slayton (line judge), Robert Luklan (back judge), Bill Dolbow (field judge), Michael McCarthy (side judge), Tracy Lynch (center judge) and George Burton (replay communicator).

The ACC did not include comment on Miami getting penalized an ACC-record 23 times against Duke, including several pass interference calls on the Blue Devils' final drive.

Those calls allowed Duke to keep its drive alive, and resulted in a 1-yard touchdown run by Thomas Sirk with six seconds left. The ACC made no mention about whether the officials made the right call on that touchdown run, also questionable because it was unclear whether Sirk crossed the plane of the goal line.

That touchdown gave Duke a 27-24 lead, and set up the final crazy play that gave Miami the win.