Norfolk State’s Michael Vick gives explanation for failed victory formation in 29-28 loss

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It looked likeNorfolk State’s Michael Vick gives explanationMichael Vick and his Norfolk State Spartans were closing in on a huge in-conference win against a surging North Carolina Central Eagles team, but the unthinkable happened with 1:34 left. North Carolina Central had no timeouts, and Norfolk State had the ball and could have run out the clock to secure the victory. But instead, the Spartans ran another play and ultimately fumbled, leading North Carolina Central to recover and ultimately score a touchdown to surge ahead 29-28.

Michael Vick on the crucial fumble that opened the door for Norfolk State’s stunning defeat to North Carolina Central.@WTKR3pic.twitter.com/rJBWUCF9Dx

— Marc Davis (@marcdavissports) November 7, 2026

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In postgame comments, Vick tried to explain what happened.

“I don’t know what happened at the end of the game. I put my headset down, I called victory formation. All we had to do was just take a knee and nail 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.”

When a reporter asked him to clarify, Vick repeated that he called victory and said he doesn’t know why a run play was called.

“I put my headset down, and I took my headset off ’cause all we had to do was just run it three times, or two times, or kneel it out. I just 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.”

Norfolk State’s Michael Vick gives explanation

Vick said the play will be used as a teaching example across the country and stressed once more that he called victory formation.

“People will look at that and that’ll go on as a teaching tape for a lot of teams across the country for years to come. I hate it had to be us, but I called victory formation. I’m just letting everybody know that.”

Related: North Carolina Central narrowly beat Michael Vick, Norfolk State 29-28

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