West Virginia was on the right end of the craziest interception of the college football season on Saturday, while UCF was left wondering what went wrong. The entire sequence was utter chaos.
It all went down during the first drive of the second quarter.
Knights quarterback John Rhys Plumlee, who also plays baseball and piano, lined up to take the snap at the opposing 42-yard-line. He had single coverage to his right and took a shot toward the end zone.
Wide receiver Javon Baker was fighting with Mountaineers defensive back Beanie Bishop on the sideline. The pass was slightly under-thrown, and Plumlee forced Baker to pull off of the coverage and make a move back toward the inside.
What happened next, you have to see to believe.
Baker got his hands on the ball, but he couldn’t hang on. It bounced off of his hands, off of his facemask and off of his shoulder pads.
While the ball rolled down his body, forward momentum forced Baker to roll onto his back. That caused him to kick up his right leg in the exact moment that the ball reached his foot.
As a result, the ball went flying straight up. It hung in the air for a moment.
It became college football’s wackiest interception!
Bishop got his bearings, turned back upfield, and came down with the interception. To make matters worse for UCF, West Virginia brought the kick back to the original line of scrimmage.
The announcer called it a “funky” interception but it sure sounded like he said “f——” interception!
The Mountaineers came down with the weirdest interception of the year. And they made the most of it!
West Virginia added a field goal to its total on the next drive, which proved to be the difference at halftime as the visitors took a 17-14 lead into the locker room.