WATCH: Vanderbilt comes away with wacky interception against Florida

Florida is doing its best to learn how Murphy’s Law works on Saturday in a game against Vanderbilt. A mistake-filled day was compounded late in the third quarter by a wacky interception.

Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson attempted to make something happen on a third-and-10 from Florida’s 24-yard line, with his team trailing 21-12. As Richardson was wrapped up by a pair of defenders and being dragged down, he managed to fire off a pass Thai Chiaokhiao-Bowman.

Chiaokhiao-Bowman would have been short of the first-down marker anyway, but as he went to the turf to try to snag the low pass, the ball bounced off his arms and up into the air.

Vanderbilt’s Jaylen Mahoney was there waiting, able to scoop it just before it hit the turf for an interception.

Wild INT in the Vandy-Florida game: The ball bounces off the Florida receiver's arm and Jaylen Mahoney comes down with it for the INT! pic.twitter.com/6pPSGaFQqj

— 𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪 @𝗙𝗧𝗕𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱𝟳 (@FTBeard7) November 19, 2022

The Commodores scored one play later when quarterback Mike Wright hit tight end Ben Bresnahan down the right sideline. Bresnahan brushed off an initial tackle attempt by safety Kamari Wilson, then fought through a tackle by Trey Dean to reach the ball across the goal line.

The score put Vanderbilt up 28-12 after the wacky interception, and the Commodores held onto that lead at the end of third quarter at the time of publication.

Wacky interception yet another big momentum swing

Mahoney’s wacky interception in the third quarter wasn’t the first major momentum swing in the game that went the way of the ‘Dores.

In the first half, Vanderbilt came with a 14-point swing in a matter of two plays.

Quarterback Mike Wright was lucky to get away with a telegraphed short pass on third down with about four minutes to play in the half. Florida safety Kamari Wilson stepped in front with nothing but green grass in front of him, but he dropped the interception and likely pick-six. One play later, UF cornerback Jason Marshall mishandled a punt inside the 10-yard line, fumbling it into the end zone, where Vanderbilt long snapper Wesley Schelling recovered it for a touchdown.

“Well that’s a huge swing of momentum there and a big boost for us heading to halftime,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea told SEC Network sideline reporter Alyssa Lang at the half. “We’ve got to capitalize on their mistakes, and to be in a position to do that means a lot. We’ve got to keep that up.”