- September 20, 2026
- 4:00 pm
Wolfpack Led For Nearly Entire Game Before Botched Intentional Safety Turned Into Vanderbilt’s Winning Touchdown
NC State had the football, a three-point lead and only seconds separating the Wolfpack from what appeared to be a hard-earned road victory over Vanderbilt.
Then came one of the strangest endings of the college football season.
NC State quarterback CJ Bailey was stripped of the football in his own end zone while attempting to burn the remaining clock before taking an intentional safety, allowing Vanderbilt’s Cayden Daniels to recover the loose ball for a touchdown.
The play turned what appeared to be a 31-28 NC State victory into a stunning 35-31 Vanderbilt win Saturday at FirstBank Stadium.
NC State fell to 1-2, while Vanderbilt improved to 3-0.
For nearly the entire afternoon, NC State controlled the game.
Vanderbilt led for exactly one second.
NC STATE BUILDS AN EARLY LEAD
NC State struck first when Will Wilson broke free for a 38-yard touchdown run on the Wolfpack’s opening possession.
Bailey then connected with Keenan Jackson for a 30-yard touchdown, giving NC State a 14-0 first-quarter lead.
A 24-yard Kanoah Vinesett field goal pushed the advantage to 17-0 in the second quarter before Vanderbilt finally answered with a touchdown reception by Junior Sherrill shortly before halftime.
NC State entered halftime ahead 17-7.
The Wolfpack stretched the lead again in the third quarter when Bailey found Jackson for a six-yard touchdown, making it 24-7.
Vanderbilt responded with a seven-yard touchdown run by Makhilyn Young and later pulled within three when Sedrick Alexander caught a 10-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter.
NC State answered again.
Bailey led a 75-yard scoring drive and found Jackson for a 23-yard touchdown with 9:41 remaining, restoring the Wolfpack’s lead to 31-21.
Jackson finished the afternoon with nine receptions for 102 yards and three touchdowns.
VANDERBILT REFUSES TO GO AWAY
Vanderbilt quarterback Jared Curtis quickly answered.
Curtis connected with Junior Sherrill for a 43-yard touchdown with 6:26 remaining, cutting NC State’s lead to 31-28.
NC State then drove into Vanderbilt territory and had an opportunity to close out the game offensively.
The Wolfpack converted a fourth-and-1 at the Vanderbilt 38, but the drive eventually stalled at the Commodores’ 31-yard line.
Bailey’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete with just over two minutes remaining, giving Vanderbilt one more chance.
Curtis moved the Commodores into the red zone, but Brody Barnhardt intercepted him at the NC State 2-yard line with 1:04 remaining.
At that moment, the Wolfpack appeared to have survived.
NC State had the lead.
It had the football.
And Vanderbilt was nearly out of time.
THE FINAL MINUTE UNRAVELS
NC State ran the football three straight times after Barnhardt’s interception.
Will Wilson gained three yards on the first carry, another three yards on the second and one yard on the third as Vanderbilt used its final two timeouts.
The Wolfpack then took a delay-of-game penalty, backing the ball from its own 9-yard line to the 5.
That left NC State facing fourth-and-7 from its own 5-yard line with only seconds remaining.
Rather than punt from deep inside its own territory, NC State chose to intentionally take a safety.
The strategy itself made sense.
Bailey was supposed to retreat into the end zone, avoid contact long enough to allow the clock to expire, then go down with the football.
A safety would have given Vanderbilt two points and reduced NC State’s lead from 31-28 to 31-30.
If the clock reached zero first, NC State would win.
That never happened.
THE PLAY THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Bailey retreated into the end zone with Vanderbilt defenders chasing him.
Defensive end Miles Capers reached Bailey before he could safely end the play and knocked the football loose.
The ball hit the turf.
Cayden Daniels recovered it in the end zone for a Vanderbilt touchdown.
Officials reviewed the play and upheld the fumble and recovery.
One second was placed back on the clock.
Brock Taylor kicked the extra point, giving Vanderbilt a 35-31 lead.
NC State received the ensuing kickoff and attempted one final desperation lateral play.
That play ended with another Wolfpack fumble recovered by Vanderbilt.
Game over.
DOEREN: “IT’S A PLAY THAT BREAKS YOUR HEART”
NC State coach Dave Doeren confirmed after the game that the final play was designed to end with an intentional safety.
“The plan was to take a safety, and you’re trying to run out the clock if you can.”
Bailey was supposed to keep the play alive while avoiding contact, then protect the ball and get down once the remaining time had been exhausted.
Instead, Vanderbilt reached him before he could do so.
Doeren summed up the ending simply:
“It’s a play that breaks your heart.”
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea offered his own description of the finish.
“We cheated the football gods today and got away with it.”
The Commodores had trailed by 17 points and never held the lead until the final second.
NC STATE DID PLENTY RIGHT BEFORE THE COLLAPSE
The final play will define the game, but statistically NC State did plenty that normally would have been enough to win.
The Wolfpack finished with 446 total yards and held the football for 35 minutes, 49 seconds.
Bailey completed 25 of 37 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns, though he also threw an interception and lost the decisive fumble.
Jackson caught nine passes for 102 yards and three touchdowns.
Wilson rushed eight times for 49 yards and a touchdown.
Vanderbilt quarterback Jared Curtis completed 20 of 34 passes for 277 yards and three touchdowns, but he was intercepted twice.
Junior Sherrill caught six passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns.
Both teams committed three turnovers.
The difference was when the final one happened.
THE NUMBERS SHOW JUST HOW UNLIKELY THE ENDING WAS
According to ESPN data cited by The Associated Press, teams possessing both the football and the lead with 10 seconds remaining had gone 1,046-1 over the previous 20 seasons.
NC State became the second team to lose in that situation.
The previous loss came in 2015, when Michigan surrendered a last-second touchdown to Michigan State after a botched punt.
Vanderbilt’s comeback from 17 points down was also the largest of the Clark Lea era and matched the program’s biggest comeback since a 2012 victory over Ole Miss.
For NC State, the loss is especially difficult because the Wolfpack appeared to have secured the game only moments earlier with Barnhardt’s interception.
Instead, the final minute produced a sequence few players, coaches or fans are likely to forget.
WHAT’S NEXT
NC State returns home to Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday, September 26, to face Appalachian State.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., with the game set to air on ESPNU.
Before then, the Wolfpack will have to process a game in which it led 17-0, 24-7, 31-21 and 31-28 before losing on a defensive touchdown in the closing seconds.
For 59 minutes and 59 seconds, Vanderbilt never held the lead.
The one second it did was the only one that mattered.
Steve is an entrepreneur, freelance writer, and super-geek tech nerd based in Lexington, NC. Steve specializes in social media platform development, website design, graphic design, and video production…and serving the one true creator of the universe, aka God.
REFERENCES AND SOURCES
NC State Athletics — Wolfpack Falls to Vanderbilt on Last Second Touchdown
https://gopack.com/news/2026/9/19/football-wolfpack-falls-to-vanderbilt-on-last-second-touchdown
NC State Athletics — NC State vs. Vanderbilt Official Box Score and Play-by-Play
https://gopack.com/sports/football/stats/2026/vanderbilt/boxscore/24539
Vanderbilt Athletics — Dores Punch Last
https://vucommodores.com/news/2026/09/19/dores-punch-last
Vanderbilt Athletics — Postgame Notes vs. NC State
https://vucommodores.com/news/2026/09/19/postgame-notes-vs-nc-state
Associated Press — Music City Miscue Gives Vanderbilt a Win Over NC State No One Saw Coming
https://apnews.com/article/music-city-miscue-nc-state-vanderbilt-9ac6ce0d04f1b4294891660a6d377809
Inside Pack Sports — Dave Doeren: “It’s a Play That Breaks Your Heart”
https://insidepacksports.com/s/19239/dave-doeren-its-a-play-that-breaks-your-heart
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