FINAL: Vanderbilt 31, Florida 24

Saturday, November 19

Nashville, Tenn.

12 p.m.

Florida Gators

Vanderbilt

Chris Harry's Quick Slant powered by Ticketmaster

Graphic: Scott MacCord/UAA Communications

FINAL: Vanderbilt 31, Florida 24

Saturday, November 19, 2022 | Football, Chris Harry

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

THE QUICK SLANT
VANDERBILT 31, FLORIDA 24

WHAT HAPPENED: Quarterback Mike Wright threw three touchdown passes to three different receivers and the Vanderbilt defense completely neutralized the Gators' high-powered rushing attack Saturday in a stunning Southeastern Conference upset defeat of the Gators at FirstBank Stadium. The loss was UF's first in the series since 2013 and just the second over the last 31 games, dating to 1989. Wright fired TD tosses of 10 to wideout Jayden McGowan in the second quarter, then seven to Gavin Schoenwald and 28 to Ben Bresnahan, both tight ends, in the third quarter to open a 28-12 lead. Along the way, though, UF did its part in aiding the Commodores, who came in as 22.5-point underdogs having just last week snapped a 26-game SEC losing streak. While Vandy was building its lead, Florida was committing three personal-foul penalties, plus a killer defensive holding call on an incomplete third-down play, all of which came back to haunt the Gators. There was more. Return man Jason Marshall Jr. muffed a punt that caromed into the end zone and was recovered by the Commodores for a special teams TD. And then there was Anthony Richardson's late third-quarter interception (a forced pass while he was being taken down for a sack) that set up the third Wright TD and put the Commodores in front 28-12 with 11 seconds left in the third period. After that pick, Richardson bounced back, firing a 74-yard touchdown pass to wideout Daejon Reynolds (8 catches, 65 yards, 2 TD) with 12 minutes left, but the Gators missed a second attempt at two-point conversion to keep Vandy's lead at 10. Still, UF had a shot to make things interesting when Marshall intercepted Wright with 6:32 to play at the Vandy 5, but the Gators failed on the sudden change even to get a first down, giving the ball back on downs to the Commodores, who padded the lead with a 27-yard field goal from Joseph Bulovas with 4:38 left. Richardson answered, though, driving Florida 75 yards in seven plays, hitting Reynolds for a 16-yard on fourth down with 3:13 left. After a failed onsides kick attempt, the Gators forced a punt and got possession at their own 9 with 46 seconds left. Richardson threw his team to the Vandy 34, but his Hail Mary attempt on the game's final snap sailed out of the back of the end zone. Wright finished 10 of 16 for 108 yards, the three scores and a pick, while senior tailback Ray Davis carried 30 times for 122 yards for a Vandy ground game that went for 175 yards. Richardson hit 25 of 42 for 400 and three scores, but rushed only four times for 25 yards. The Florida running game, averaging 225.3 yards coming in (2nd in the SEC, 3rd nationally) and 6.1 yards per game (first and second, respectively), was stonewalled to just 45 yards on 21 attempts (2.1 per carry). UF sixth-year senior linebacker Ventrell Miller, the heart and soul of the Florida defense and locker room, was ejected from the game in the second half due to a targeting call and thus will be disqualifed from the first half of the Gators' next game. A pretty big one. Read on.

UF quarterback **Anthony Richardson** rarely had this much running room during Saturday's loss in Nashville.

WHAT IT MEANS: The charge to finish strong and secure the most attractive bowl game hit a Music City wall. The UF coaches will need to do a deep dive into what exactly went wrong (or what Vandy did right) with the running game. The Commodores now trail in the all-time series 11-43-2.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Vandy's defense earlier this season gave up 495 yards against FCS opponent Elon, and three other times surrendered at least 500 yards against an opponent. The Commodores came into the game allowing 164.3 yards rushing per game, which ranked 91st in the country, but the Gators finished 119 yards under that figure, with tailbacks Montrell Johnson Jr. and Trevor Etienne combining for just 41 combined yards on 14 carries.

STAGGERING STATISTIC: Vanderbilt, which beat Kentucky on the road last week, has its first two-game winning streak in SEC play since Nov. 17 and 24 of 2018, when the Commodores finished the season with a 36-29 win over Ole Miss and 38-13 thrashing of rival Tennessee on the way to posting a 6-6 record that got them a berth in the Texas Bowl against Baylor. The win also ended Vandy's 12-game home losing streak.

UP NEXT: Florida (6-5) will wrap the 2022 regular season Friday night with its first road game at rival and 19th-ranked Florida State (7-4) since 2018. The Gators own a three-game winning streak against the Seminoles, with the 2020 game at Tallahassee canceled due to COVID after the SEC opted for an all-league schedule for its teams. Billy Napier will be the third different UF coach (joining Dan Mullen and interim Greg Knox) to face FSU in the series' last three meetings. The Seminoles, who defeated Louisiana 49-17 Saturday, moved into the Associated Press Top 25 two weeks ago and will be ranked when the teams play for the first time since 2016. UF leads the series 37-26-2.