Vanderbilt Football Players React to Final Play of Unbelievable Win – Sports Illustrated

In this story:
NASHVILLE — Standing on the home sideline of the south end zone at FirstBank Stadium, all Vanderbilt wide receiver Junior Sherrill could do was look up to the heavens.
“I’m just sitting back praying, man. Praying we got the dub. God came through like always,” Sherrill said as he recounted his perspective of the final play in Vanderbilt’s 35-31 win over NC State.
Sherrill was praying for a miracle. That a second look of what has to be one of the most miraculous plays in Vanderbilt athletics history was not going to be stripped away from it post-review. For a few moments of suspense, the fear of the unknown was felt throughout the stadium.
But the next moment? Pure jubilation to a moment Vanderbilt and all who are involved will never forget.
With six seconds to go, Vanderbilt was down 31-28 and NC State had the football. All the Wolfpack had to do was run around in its own end zone and take a knee to waste the rest of the time. Heck it could have just punted the ball from the back of the end zone or just jogged out of bounds.
But it chose something a little different. A play that involved plenty of unnecessary risk. NC State quarterback CJ Bailey took the snap, jogged forward for a few seconds before attempting to dive forward to the ground for a game-ending safety. As he was going to the ground, though, the unthinkable happened. Vanderbilt EDGE Miles Capers punched the ball out of Bailey’s arm, causing the ball to roll free in the back of the end zone.
That is when cornerback Cayden Daniels jumped on the loose ball for a miraculous game-winning touchdown to complete a 17-point comeback.
From Daniels’ perspective, he saw Capers punch the ball out and was the first one to jump on the ball. While others were waiting for the replay result to be delivered, Daniels knew the call was going to be upheld. After all, he had the perspective nobody else did.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Daniels said on whether Bailey’s knee could have been down before the ball was punched out. “It’s the last minute, so play through the whistle. Play to the final second goes off the clock. I definitely believed we won that game.”
Daniels was not sure what play NC State was going to run in an attempt to milk the game out. He was, however, surprised that the Wolfpack chose to run the play it did. The play selection opened up the chance of something unforeseen happening. Sure enough, it did.
It is a moment nobody Daniels will never forget. As a player that appeared in just five games his freshman year in 2025, Daniels has not had much of a chance to be involved in a monumental moment of college football.
That is until now, where Daniels introduced himself to the entire Vanderbilt fanbase and all of the college football world that tuned in to the final six seconds.
Vanderbilt linebacker Bryce Cowan has seen a lot in his Vanderbilt career, including a stunning upset win over No. 1 Alabama during the 2024 season. But out of all the end-game situations Cowan has experienced?
“Definitely,” Cowan said in regards to whether Saturday was the craziest finish to a game in his career.
Vanderbilt did have an attitude that teams should have en route to completing a comeback. The Commodores knew that as long as the game was still going on, the game was not over. All the plays made in the final 23 minutes of the game added up to finishing the job it set out to do at halftime.
Despite the sloppiness of the game, there is still the satisfaction of finding a way to win. That is easy to process. But as it pertains to the moment that will go down in program history, Vanderbilt struggles to find the words to explain what happened.
“It still doesn’t feel real to this moment. So many emotions, so many things running through my head. But I’m just glad we were able to come out with that win,” Daniels said.
Follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest news.
Loading recommendations… Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations
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.
© 2026 ABG-SI LLC – SPORTS ILLUSTRATED IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ABG-SI LLC. – All Rights Reserved. The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Sports Illustrated or its affiliates, licensees and related brands. All picks and predictions are suggestions only and not a guarantee of success or profit. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER.

source