Duke's David Cutcliffe says NCAA should allow results to be overturned

Duke coach David Cuctliffe, admittedly “venting” about the way his team lost to Miami 30-27 on Saturday night, said Sunday that the NCAA should have a process in place that would allow the game result to be overturned under similar circumstances.

“What instant replay is in place for is to get it right,” Cutcliffe said on a teleconference. “And we did not get it right.”

The Atlantic Coast Conference admitted Sunday that on-field officials and the instant replay booth botched the decision that gave Miami the victory on a wild kickoff return touchdown that involved eight laterals and several questionable blocks. The most egregious error, the ACC acknowledged, was that replay officials missed a Miami player’s knee touching the ground before releasing one of those laterals, which would have ended the game and given Duke a 27-24 win.

ACC suspends officials from Miami-Duke game; TD should not have counted

The ACC suspended both the officiating crew and the two replay officials for two games, but there is no mechanism in NCAA rules to overturn the result, so Miami’s victory will stand, which could significantly affect Duke’s chances to win the ACC Coastal division.

Cutcliffe said he called several NCAA officials to inquire about potential ways to protest or reverse the outcome given the video evidence but came up empty.

Even though there’s a potential slippery slope element to reversing game outcomes after everyone leaves the field, Cutcliffe’s point is that the game was ending on that call regardless and that there should be a way to change it if a mistake was made.

“The decision that was made in replay was made after all the play was done on the field,” he said. “So we’re still in the same mode. Nothing has changed other than they realized they got the replay wrong.”

The Duke incident, along with a few other questionable replay decisions this season, could lead to some discussion about how replay is used. Decisions are made by an on-site official in a booth and then relayed to the officials on the field, but there could be a push for conferences to make those calls through a centralized officiating center.

“If we’re going to have technology, if we want to get it right, let’s get it right. Otherwise let’s not have replay,” Cutcliffe said. “I’ve been on the football issues committee and had a multitude of coaches reach out to me since the ballgame was over with that it’s just hard to understand from a coaching perspective. I would think this will create that conversation and hopefully this doesn’t happen to another set of young men.”

GALLERY: HIGHLIGHTS FROM WEEK 9