Inside the Play Call That Produced Vanderbilt Football’s Miracle Win Over NC State – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE — By now, everyone knows the situation Vanderbilt football was in Saturday with six seconds left to go in the game.
The Commodores looked dead in the water down 31-28 against NC State with the occurrence of a miracle being the only way they would come out with a victory. Before Vanderbilt cornerback Cayden Daniels recovered the ball that EDGE Miles Capers punched out, there was the huddle before the final play was executed.
Capers, along with the 10 other Vanderbilt defenders, were huddled around defensive coordinator Steve Gregory and linebackers coach Nick Lezynski, drawing up the final play. The play they decided on? A field goal block.
A play call that sounds so out of the box for the scenario Vanderbilt was in, that maybe it would be the right call for a miracle.
“It was confusing, but we had to do something to get the play. So, we just made a play,” Capers said as he recalled the conversation in the huddle as his coaches delivered the play call.
What made the call even more confusing is the fact that Capers said the defense had never practiced a field goal block formation for the situation Vanderbilt was in Saturday. During weeks of practice, it feels like teams prepare for everything. In this case, though, there was none. Just one rep and pray for a miracle.
In accordance with the call, Vanderbilt sent out its 11 guys on the field it would normally have if its opponent was routinely attempting a field goal. There was no time for Capers and the other guys to process Gregory and Lezynski’s instructions. It was just about making something out of a play they had never practiced before.
Though Capers and his teammates were confused on the play call, Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea knew that lining up in a field goal block was the correct call. He knew the field goal block play would generate pressure off the edges of the line of scrimmage to give his team a chance at a miracle.
“We just felt like the best way to flank the offense was to get into a field goal block. We knew that was the play,” Lea said. “It wasn’t a matter of needing to defend anything else. It was how quickly we put pressure on them. You could tell on the call there was a little bit of confusion. I think this is the first time in the history of college football there has been a field goal block called on the minus whatever yard line.”
And then, it happened.
NC State quarterback CJ Bailey took the snap from his own 2-yard line, stepped back into the middle of the end zone before moving to his right and diving forward in an effort to end the game with the safety. That’s when Capers played the role of Superman and punched the ball out of Bailey’s arm, getting the ball to roll toward the back of the end zone before Daniels ultimately jumped on it for the win.
Just as Daniels told the media after Saturday’s game, Capers was also surprised that NC State chose to run the play it went with. Maybe the field goal block play would not have worked in every scenario, but it worked perfectly against what NC State decided to go with.
“I blacked out. I remember I just saw the ball and Cayden jumped on it. I just jumped up,” Capers said what he remembers from the immediate moments following the Daniels fumble recovery.
In the days since the moment that is now tattooed into the minds of each Vanderbilt football player and their fans, Capers has experienced a whirlwind of 72 hours. From countless missed texts on iMessage, Instagram and Twitter to just the sheer processing of the play, Capers has thought plenty about the ending of the game.
And of course, he has spent some time scrolling on social media, where he has watched Saturday’s final play “a million times” already. At first, Capers blacked out. But in the time since, the reality of what occurred Saturday afternoon has sunk in.
“Oh yeah. I mean, I’m just happy it happened because I didn’t want to go to the other side of that,” Capers said.
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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