Even in a sport like college football, where the unexpected regularly becomes the ordinary, North Carolina State came up with an inventive way to lose a heartbreaker.
Nursing a three-point lead in their Week 3 game at Vanderbilt and facing a fourth-and-7 from their own 4-yard line with six seconds remaining, the Wolfpack opted to run an offensive play rather than punt it away.
The reasoning behind it was sound enough — waste enough time and have quarterback CJ Bailey go down in the end zone for an intentional safety with no time remaining on the clock to earn a one-point victory.
Things didn’t quite go according to plan, though.
Bailey took a shotgun snap, dropped back into the end zone, shuffled around a collapsing pocket and was brought down. Before he went to the turf, though, the ball was ripped from his grasp by Vanderbilt’s Miles Capers and was recovered by Commodores defensive back Cayden Daniels for a touchdown with one second left.
After the ensuing extra point, Vanderbilt earned an improbable 35-31 win.
Before those stunning final seconds in Nashville, teams leading with the ball in the final 10 seconds were 1,046-1 over the past 20 seasons. The only loss during that time was Michigan’s 2015 defeat against Michigan State in the legendary “trouble with the snap” game.
After the game, NC State coach Dave Doeren confirmed the plan was for Bailey to try to run out the clock and take a safety.
“It’s just a play where you roll out and you don’t get tackled and you try to burn as much time as you can and then fall to the ground and protect the football,” Doeren said. “He got hit and didn’t protect the football.”
It was the thrilling and inexplicable end to an impressive comeback from coach Clark Lea’s team. The Commodores trailed by 17, 24-7, midway through the third quarter and were down 10, 31-21, with 6:30 remaining in regulation.
Making his first career start, Vanderbilt freshman quarterback, the No. 1 overall player nationally in the 2026 recruiting class, threw for 277 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, along with a team-high 64 rushing yards.
