CHARLOTTE – It was the celebratory spike guard Greg Van Roten had been dreaming about since middle school.

And one that running back Christian McCaffrey dreamt about last night apparently.

"At breakfast this morning Christian said he had a dream last night that he scored a touchdown and he gave me the ball to spike it," Van Roten said, struggling to contain his smile. "It was one of those self-fulfilling prophecies."

McCaffrey and Van Roten joked about the dream over breakfast. Then the game against the Ravens got underway and McCaffrey tied it up with an 11-yard touchdown run – his first rushing touchdown of the season – late in the first quarter.

After crossing the goal line and gathering himself, McCaffrey looked up and saw Van Roten coming right towards him.

"It was very weird when it happened," McCaffrey said. "He was the first one I saw. I was like, 'This is strange, but I love it.'"

Van Roten then officially fulfilled the prophecy, spiking the hell out of the ball in the end zone.

"It had been a while," Van Roten said with a smirk.

How long exactly had it been since Van Roten spiked a touchdown ball?

"I played quarterback in middle school, so yeah," he said.

The Panthers went on to win 36-21 after McCaffrey's touchdown and Van Roten's subsequent spike kicked off 27 unanswered points.