Norfolk State lost a Football Championship Subdivision game in stunning fashion on Saturday after a late fumble handed North Carolina Central a come-from-behind victory, and head coach Michael Vick says the decisive play was never the one he ordered.
With Norfolk State holding the ball and a 1:34 clock to protect, the Spartans appeared to be in total control. North Carolina Central had no timeouts remaining, meaning Norfolk State needed only to run out the clock to seal the win. Vick says he called for the victory formation — a standard sequence of kneel-downs meant to end the game safely.
Instead, quarterback Deljay Bailey took the snap from shotgun, rolled left and fumbled the football. North Carolina Central recovered, drove down the field and scored to take a 29-28 lead, though the Eagles missed the two-point conversion attempt.
Norfolk State got the ball back with a chance to answer, but a 37-yard field goal attempt missed, sealing the loss.
Vick says he had already stepped back
Speaking with reporters afterward, Vick said he had taken himself out of play-calling mode once he believed the game was decided.
“I don’t know what happened at the end of the game,” Vick said, via WTKR-TV. “I put my headset down. I called victory formation. All we had to do was take a knee, kneel the clock out. That’s just situational football. I don’t know what happened in regards to that. I looked up and we was running the ball, and then I seen the fumble. But my final instructions was victory formation. That’s when you kneel it out. And they had, I think, zero timeouts left and the game was over practically.”
Vick said he had physically removed his headset, believing the outcome no longer required his input.
“Well, I put my headset down, and I took my headset off because all we had to do was just run it three times, or two times, or kneel it out,” he said. “That’s called victory. I don’t know what happened. A run play was called. I looked up, I seen us running the ball. I don’t know what happened. I really don’t. I don’t know what the play call was. I don’t know why we even ran that play.”
Video from the sideline captured the moments before the fumble, showing players gathered around offensive coordinator Brian Sheppard. Vick, without his headset on, was seen walking over to the huddle rather than actively directing it. He maintains that his instruction had been for the victory formation, and it remains unclear why a run play was called instead in that situation.
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