Duke's beatdown of NC State included a must-see missed field goal returned for a 109-yard touchdown

The Duke Blue Devils returned a missed NC State field goal 109 yards for a touchdown at Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday, turning a bad half into a nightmare for the Wolfpack and powering Duke to a 41-3 win.

NC State welcomed its in-state rivals to Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh amid a rough season that saw the Wolfpack enter the game at 4-4, just weeks removed from a coaching change. Interim head coach Todd Goebbel led the team from the sideline.

Late in the first half, NC State was trailing 24-3. With two seconds on the clock, Goebbel sent out his kicking team, hoping that kicker Kanoah Vinesett could at least hit a 50-yard field goal to end the half on a semi-high note.

That did not happen. Vinesett didn't quite give it enough leg to get it the full 50 yards, and the kick fell short into the end zone, where Duke safety Andrew Pellicciotta was waiting.

Pellicciotta hauled in the kick and took off 109 yards for a touchdown. Field goals returned for touchdowns are among the rarest and most exciting plays in college football.

The play was so shocking that whoever was manning the CW's scorebug thought the kick was as good as gold and hung three points on the board for NC State by mistake.

Instead of a 24-6 game at the half, the score became 31-3. A single kick turned what should have been a seven-point gap into a 28-point gap.

Duke tacked on another 10 points in the second half to win the game 41-3. After that first-half touchdown, NC State never found its way back into the match.

We don't see field goals returned for touchdowns nearly enough. The CFL got this right by having the goal posts at the front of the end zone, which produces more missed field goals returned for touchdowns, though it also seems wildly unsafe.

The only folks who didn't enjoy that play were NC State fans. Not a whole lot has gone the Wolfpack's way this season, and Saturday's loss made that clearer still.

Meanwhile, reports say Super Bowl champion Russell Wilson is in the mix for the NC State head-coaching job. The school has been searching for a new head coach since the coaching change.

For Duke, it was a dominant win. That 109-yard return in the final seconds of the first half turned the game one-sided, and the Blue Devils finished the job in the second half.