Nothing makes grown men cry quite like Senior Day.  Yesterday we saw Justin Fuente and Bud Foster both choke back tears after the Virginia Tech defense made a goal line stop to preserve a win for the seniors in their last game in Lane Stadium.  It was not a pretty win, but it was a win, and that’s what matters at this point.

It would have been a shame to lose this one.  Not only because of the way Pitt almost scored that final touchdown, but because of how they scored the touchdown on the fake field goal to take the lead.  As far as I can tell, the play should not have counted.  No. 66 for the Panthers was a good four yards down the field when the pass was thrown, in which case there should have been a penalty for an ineligible man downfield.

Unless there was some sort of alignment issue that made No. 66 eligible, then that shouldn’t have been allowed.  But I don’t think that’s the case, as the college rules clearly state that anyone wearing a jersey number between No. 50 and No. 79 can’t line up as an eligible receiver.  Last I checked, 66 is between 50 and 79, so the play should not have counted, if I’m correct and he was more than three yards down the field.

That reminded me of the play in the 2003 Miami game, where the ‘Canes ran a fake field goal to tight end Kevin Everett. Fortunately Everett dropped the pass, but it should never have been allowed anyway because there was a player lined up outside of Everette on the line of scrimmage, which made him ineligible.  The refs missed that one on that Saturday night in Blacksburg, and I think they might have missed one yesterday against Pitt.  Fortunately, neither play cost Virginia Tech the game.

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