NC State fans will tell you they are cursed. Even head coach Dave Doeren has acknowledged it in the past. If you believe in such things, Saturday's result will go to the front of the line.
Then again, why should divine intervention get the blame for one player's poor decision making and worse execution?
In case you missed it, NC State led Vanderbilt 31-28 and held the ball with six seconds left in the game. Facing a 4th-and-5 from their own 7-yard line, the Wolfpack instructed quarterback CJ Bailey to burn out as much time as possible, then take a safety, preferably with two seconds or left less in the game. For some reason, Bailey ran into traffic. For an even worse reason, he did not properly secure the ball when doing so. He fumbled the ball, and Vanderbilt's Cayden Daniels recovered in the end zone.
According to ESPN Insights, FBS teams were 1,046-1 over the last 20 years when possessing the ball with the lead in the final 10 seconds of a game. They are now 1,046-2. The only other loss was the infamous "trouble with the snap" Michigan State-Michigan game of 2015. The only game I can personally recall was Baylor's 1999 loss to UNLV, when UNLV returned a fumble 100 yards on the final play of a game where Baylor led 24-21.
"It's a shame it came down to that play. That should never happen," Doeren said after the game. "It's a play that breaks your heart more than anything. I was proud of how our guys played for 59 minutes and 59 seconds."
NC State built leads of 17-0 and 24-7, and led 31-21 with 9:35 left in the fourth quarter. Bailey didn't single-handedly led Vanderbilt climb back into the game they trailed by 17 in the second half. Then again, the rest of NC State's roster did enough to win the game by 1 point. (While we're at it, save an ounce of sympathy for NC State +3.5 bettors. Since video review found Daniels recovered the ball with one second left, Vanderbilt kicked an extra point.)
Doeren assuredly felt heartbreak for the non-Bailey Wolfpack, who did enough to win the game, and anger at Bailey, and also heartbreak for Bailey at the same time. It will be difficult for the NC State quarterback to live that down for the rest of his time in Raleigh. Though only a non-conference loss, the defeat drops NC State to 1-2 on the season.
"A guy hits a game winner in the end and that's all they talk about, right? Hoo, man," Doren said. "Our kids fought. It hot down there. It really, really hurts like when you lose a game like that and did a lot of good."