Everything went wrong.

Until it went gloriously right.

What became Cooper Mumford's improbable, internet-breaking touchdown pass against the University of San Diego on Sept. 9 started out as a double-reverse from the 9-yard line, with running back Gianni Hurd taking a handoff from quarterback Gavin Herberg.

Wide receiver Trevin Edwards swept around from the left, planning to take a pitch from Hurd and find open space around the right side to the end zone.

What those watching the game live on ESPN+ — and the millions who watched the clip on social media — saw was a bang-bang hit that caused a fumble, and Mumford, a 6-foot-4, 275-pound freshman tackle from Highland, Utah, pick up the loose ball, run a few steps and flick the ball to a wide-open Keenan Brown for a touchdown. The loose ball was ruled a lateral, which meant it was a live ball and could be advanced by the offense.

One afternoon, a couple of weeks after the hubub over the play subsided, Mumford and offensive line coach Trevor Wikre sat down and went over what led to that night's No. 3 play on SportsCenter's Top 10 list.

It wasn't simply a matter of linebacker Jayden Wickware blowing up the play when he hit Hurd just as he was preparing to make the pitch to Edwards.

The team cut-ups, taken from game video separate from what fans see on TV or online streaming, show wider views, and Wikre pulled up a view from the end zone that showed the defensive alignment that started the blocking breakdowns.

Before the snap, lineman Malachi Cooper shifted to his left, leaving no one across from Mumford. Cornerback Jake Higgins was lined up across from CMU tight end Markel Quinney and Wickware was showing blitz.

Here's Wikre's breakdown:

"We've got a full zone going left, the tight end (Quinney) should be out (to prevent Wickware's blitz). Cooper, first step, step underneath yourself, you've gotta reach with that heel, go knock out the guy over the top of the tight end (Higgins), the tight end's gotta go out."

Basically, the left side of the line was supposed to bump over one man, but Quinney was quickly engaged by Higgins, with Mumford taking his step to block Higgins, and Wickware making a bee-line to the ball.

"I was confused right off the start with the way that the defense was lined up, so I took my steps out and then the tight end was there, so I tried to go to the outside guy, and he totally just ran right past me and caused the fumble," Mumford said.

That move to try to block Wickware is the reason Mumford was even in position to make the play. He got one push on the linebacker as he ran past, leaving Mumford alone behind the line of scrimmage, and as the ball bounced loose, it landed right at his feet.

"I don't know why we're looking back at the ball, just lay down on it," Wikre said in his film review. "Don't … yeah, good job."

The "don't": Don't pick up the ball and run with it. But when the pass found Brown inside the 5 and he sprinted into the end zone, yeah, everything was all right.

" I won't go into too many details on what it was, but yeah, that's pretty close," Wikre said when asked if he was hollering "no-no-no-yes!" from the sideline.

Mumford laughed about how he knows linemen are taught to fall on a loose ball, but that went out the window amid the on-field chaos.

"I mean, I was planning on running it, I was gonna get out of there and try to run around the edge, but it's pretty obvious to me I wasn't gonna make it," Mumford said. "I saw Keenan with his hand up, so …"

Within minutes of the big-man touchdown, on the first play of the second quarter, the clip had gone viral, something Mumford and his teammates didn't know until after their 28-21 overtime victory.

It was a topic for lively discussion for awhile on the bus ride back to Grand Junction, but starting Sunday, the Mavs' attention turned to the next game.

Mumford's phone was full of text messages and his Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) accounts blew up.

"Lots of people were hitting my phone up, hit me up on Instagram, Twitter and all that," he said. "I didn't really respond to a lot of it just because I'm not really on my phone all that much. But it was kind of crazy. I saw one of (the posts) on Twitter had about 4 million views, and that was wild to me, like 4 million people have seen this. So it's pretty cool."

All the attention the play created could have overwhelmed Mumford with interview requests. As fate would have it, his position coach, Wikre, went through a similar event when he was a lineman at CMU, then Mesa State, in 2008.

During practice his senior year, Wikre's right hand got caught in a teammate's jersey, and his pinky finger was severely injured. A compound dislocation required surgery and would have ended his playing career. Surgeons planned to place a pin in the finger to keep it aligned, but it would require several weeks to heal, preventing him from playing. With only six games remaining in his senior season, Wikre, like Mumford, had a Plan B.

He instructed surgeons to cut off his little finger, and although he lost the argument to play that weekend, he was back on the field for the final five games after the finger was amputated below the middle knuckle.

His story went national, so Wikre quickly sat down with his young lineman after the coaches saw the stir on social media.

"I brought it up to him, if it's getting too much, you need to say something," Wikre said. "I had a lot of people here that helped me through all that so it didn't get too much for me. Cooper's got a very similar mindset that I do, so I offered that to him, but he said he was fine.

"The nice thing is, Coop's got a good head, he was raised right. That part was nice. It's nice when you surround yourself with young men that have that right mindset. It makes it a lot easier to coach."

Mumford said the attention wasn't too bad, noting that he might have missed some requests on his phone. He's gotten some good-natured ribbing, with friends telling him he hit his peak in the second game of his career.

His pass was right on target, maybe a little surprising for a guy who was wearing lineman's gloves and didn't know if his fingers got close to the laces. He's always played on the line, so Mumford never thought he'd need to know the skill his father taught him when he was a kid growing up, tossing a football in the backyard.

CMU head coach Miles Kochevar joked that Wikre apparently taught his lineman his infamous "four-finger spiral."

"Mine probably wouldn't have made it to the end zone," Wikre said.

The play was soon dubbed the "Wikre Special," but Mumford's teammates came up with better options, including one that's a tribute to linemen everywhere:

Pillsbury Throwboy.