North Carolina State gave a new meaning to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory this weekend.
The Wolfpack played on Saturday against Vanderbilt. In the final seconds of the fourth quarter at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., NC State was clinging to a 31-28 lead and had possession of the ball deep in their own territory.
With just six seconds left in the game, NC State was facing a 4th-and-3 play from inside their own 5-yard line. As a result, they made the decision to take an intentional safety and concede two points with a three-point cushion.
However, Wolfpack quarterback CJ Bailey committed an insane blunder after the snap. He ran backwards into his own end zone and allowed himself to be tackled.
But as Bailey was going down, Vanderbilt knocked the ball loose and recovered the fumble in the end zone for an absolutely improbable game-winning touchdown. Here is the wild video.
VANDERBILT WALK-OFF FUMBLE RECOVERY IN THE END ZONE
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 19, 2026
NC STATE FUMBLED WHILE RUNNING OUT THE CLOCK pic.twitter.com/TrahtvSGmG
Take a look at another angle.
A NEW MUSIC CITY MIRACLE!
— ESPN (@espn) September 19, 2026
Six seconds from a defeat, the unthinkable happens, and Vandy wins pic.twitter.com/ZDlDnQHv9i
Bailey could have done absolutely anything else there, including chucking the ball downfield as far as he possibly could. Even if NC State’s coaching staff had called for him to take the intentional safety, Bailey could have danced around and taken a knee or could have just run out of the back of the end zone, Dan Orlovsky-style. Instead though, Bailey picked the one (and perhaps only) outcome where there was a possibility that it would lead to his team losing the game on the spot.
The junior Bailey did fairly well otherwise on Saturday, throwing for 275 yards and three touchdowns. But in the end, he pulled off the unenviable feat of singlehandedly losing a game with a 99.9 percent win probability (especially considering that NC State is usually on the other side of such unlikely late-game twists).
