It was worst for Laquon Treadwell, who lay writhing in a crumpled mass of pain in the end zone trying desperately to grasp at his freshly shattered leg.

It was bad for everyone else too, sure, but the view of Treadwell being carted off the field in tears was almost harder to watch than the incessant replays of his ankle snapping.

In the span of eight seconds against No. 3 Auburn Saturday — possibly the most heartwrenching eight seconds in Ole Miss football history — the Rebels lost their national title hopes, their most explosive playmaker and the game.

Less than a yard separated Ole Miss from modern glory, the kind reserved for teams with names ending in –ama and –ame. Inches away.

The mood inside Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium appeared to be relative to leaving a steaming hot tub and jumping into an ice-cold pool.

Losing was one thing. The dramatic theater of that ending is usually reserved for Disney movies and Nicholas Sparks novels.

Treadwell was not only the team’s best receiver and big-play threat. He was their offensive mojo, the guy who could take on two blockers at once or burst open a short screen pass for a touchdown. He was their running game, the guy who was just as dangerous with a pass behind the line of scrimmage as he was on a fly route against a small corner who is given the unfortunate opportunity to cover him. And he was their lifeline, the player Bo Wallace and company could rely on when the offense struggled.

It was a simple screen that Treadwell ignited Oxford with, before the fumble that would forever change the landscape of the inaugural college football playoff. The closest that any Ole Miss team has come to a national championship since Johnny Vaught last strolled the sidelines would fall just short.

The Rebels are all but eliminated from the national championship conversation now, and need to borrow a few sprinkles of Auburn’s magical fairy dust to have a shot at the SEC West title. Freeze’s team will play for bowl placement and a shot at knocking off their No. 1-ranked friends in Starkville, which was just made more difficult with the loss of their star. With three games left to play, the expectations have drastically changed.

The officials announced the fumble recovery while Treadwell was being carted off the field, as if the punch in the gut didn’t hurt badly enough.

Wallace fought back tears in the postgame press conference. Freeze called it a “really, really sickening way to lose.”

But Treadwell raised a teary-eyed fist as he was driven away from the 62,090 fans stuffed inside his home stadium.

It was a play that made Billy Cannon’s punt return look like the end of “Toy Story,” and one that will forever live in infamy in Ole Miss football lore.

The sophomore’s recovery time will take approximately four months according to team doctors.

Like Ole Miss, Laquon Treadwell will be back.

And college football will be better for it.

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Cory Gunkel is a reporter. He can be reached at 601-636-4545, Ext. 178, or by email at cory.gunkel@vicksburgpost.com