Just when you think you’ve seen every bizarre way to lose a football game in the final seconds, NC State may have just conjured up the worst end-of-game sequence to ever turn a win into a stupefying loss.

Leading 31-28 against Vanderbilt, NC State safety Brody Barnhardt came up with what looked like the game-clinching interception off of quarterback Jared Curtis. There was still 1:04 left on the clock and Vanderbilt had two timeouts to use, so NC State couldn’t quite just kneel the game out while backed up at its own 2-yard line.

NC State ran normal plays on first-, second-, and third-down to drain the clock and make Vanderbilt exhaust all of its timeouts. On 4th and 3 at its own 9, the Wolfpack took a delay of game penalty with :06 on the clock.

That’s where the chaos begins.

Quarterback C.J. Bailey rolled out to his right, chased by Commodores players from his left side. Bailey hesitated up the field, tried to run out of the end zone, and was swarmed by Vanderbilt’s defense and FUMBLED THE BALL. Vanderbilt’s Cayden Daniels was on the spot for the recovery and the miraculous, game-winning touchdown. What looked to be a play designed to run down the remaining six seconds, even if it meant taking an intentional safety, turned into the most disastrous outcome possible for NC State.

Amazingly, there was still a second left on the clock for a shell-shocked NC State to score on the ensuing kickoff, but there would be no counter-miracle. Only pure embarrassment and disbelief after trying to run the clock out and instead losing 35-31.

That’s an incomprehensible choke. Bailey could’ve even committed an intentional safety with time on the clock even if it meant NC State just had to defend the ensuing kick return. Running out of the end zone, throwing the ball 50 yards down the field, kneeling even before time had expired, all of those options were on the table. The worst case scenario unfolded, and credit goes to Vanderbilt’s defense for finding a way to force and seize upon a catastrophic mistake.

This will be right up there with “Trouble with the snap!”, Central Michigan vs. Oklahoma State, Jakobi Meyers’ ill-fated lateral, and “Miracle at the Meadowlands” as far as all-time ways to lose a football game. Consider it a new Music City Miracle in Nashville.