Bryce Perkins, Joe Reed Lead Virginia Football Past Liberty, 45-24

Virginia football quarterback Bryce Perkins scores one of his four touchdowns (two pass, two rush) in the win over Liberty. ~ Photo by Kris Wright

The University of Virginia football program reached the 7-win mark for the first time since 2011 with a 45-24 home victory over Liberty in the first-ever matchup between the two in-state schools. Following the win, UVA head coach Bronco Mendenhall paid homage to those seniors who had just played their final game inside Scott Stadium.

“I’m really excited for our seniors. So pleased that they were able to win at home on their last appearance at Scott Stadium,” Mendenhall said. “I think it’s significant that they finished with a winning season. Certainly there’s more emphasis and more games to play, but seven wins is a significant mark for our program, for the University of Virginia, and what we’re accomplishing. They can claim ownership of that. They’ve been instrumental in ensuring that that happened. Throughout the course of the game, I’m certainly excited about the number of points scored. I was happy with the adjustments we made at halftime defensively. I thought those were critical and the turnovers that we created. And after three pretty fierce weeks of work on our kick return, it was great to see [Joe Reed] be able to perform, not just with the kickoff return for a touchdown after halftime, but with the consistency of the returns today. It looked much better.

Seniors played a major role in today’s victory. Running back Jordan Ellis had 128 total yards (106 rushing, 22 receiving) and a touchdown. Wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus, UVA’s all-time receptions leader, had seven catches for 86 yards. Safety Juan Thornhill, who was back on the field after missing the entire second-half of last week’s loss to Pitt due to injury, had a team-best 13 tackles and an interception.

Ensuring the seniors received a proper send-off were juniors Bryce Perkins and Joe Reed, who each came through with big-time performances. Perkins passed for 168 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 89 yards and two more scores. Both of the junior signal caller’s touchdown throws went to Reed, who also returned a kickoff 90 yards for a score at the start of the second half.

“Tonight it seemed like everything was clicking,” Reed said of his performance. “I had heart-to-hearts with the seniors that are leaving, told them I would do everything that I could to send them out with a bang on their last time playing here. I was just trying to execute and play team ball.”

Liberty, which falls to 4-5 in its first season on the FBS level, couldn’t match Virginia in the end. The Flames were not intimated, however, taking the game’s opening drive 75 yards for a touchdown to grab a 7-0 lead. A depleted Virginia defense had difficulty stopping one of the nation’s top offenses, especially in the first half. Liberty, which entered the game averaging 477.4 yards of offense and 36.9 points per game prior to today’s matchup, marched 41 yards or more in its first four drives, reaching the Cavalier 34 or better in every one of those drives. The Flames scored only 10 points on those four drives. Meanwhile, UVA scored touchdowns in its first three possessions.

Perkins found Reed on a 14-yard touchdown pass to cap off Virginia’s first drive of the game – a 4-play, 55-yard march. Perkins cruised in for a 13-yard touchdown run for UVA’s second score of the game. Jordan Ellis’ 1-yard plunge boosted the Cavalier lead to 21-7 in the second quarter.

An Alex Probert 37-yard field goal cut the Cavalier lead to 21-10 with 2:35 remaining in the first-half, plenty of time for the Virginia offense to do more damage. But Liberty’s Bejour Wilson had other ideas, intercepting Perkins and returning the pick 33 yards to the Cavalier 7. A 7-yard touchdown run by Frankie Hickson on the very next play turned a comfortable 14-point lead to just four at 21-17.

Virginia would regroup, and sophomore place-kicker Brian Delaney booted through a 33-yard field goal to give the Hoos a 24-17 halftime lead.

Reed’s kickoff return score gave the Hoos some momentary breathing room at 31-17, but Liberty responded with a quick score of its own, driving 65 yards in six plays in two-and-a-half minutes. Running back Peytton Pickett’s 18-yard touchdown run put Liberty within one touchdown at 31-24, and when the Flames defense forced Virginia’s first punt of the game, the visitors had an opportunity for a game-tying drive.

Virginia’s defense finally rose to the occasion.

On Liberty’s ensuing possession, head coach Turner Gill made a bold call on 4th-and-1, deciding to go for the first down despite the fact that his team was on its own 14. Liberty, which averaged 153 yards rushing per game prior to today’s game, had amassed 139 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 26 carries in the first-half. But quarterback Buckshot Calvert decided to pass and sophomore safety Brenton Nelson was ready. The reigning ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year knocked the pass down before it could reach Biletnikoff Award candidate Antonio Gandy-Golden, resulting in a turnover on downs. Three plays later, Perkins scored from nine yards out and the Cavaliers led 38-24.

Thornhill led the team in tackles and had an interception in his final game in Scott Stadium. ~ Photo by Kris Wright

“I actually admired the decision, they came to win the game,” Mendenhall said. “And they were having success running the ball, especially early. There was kind of a point in the game where I think they decided that they could run for a first down or that they could get a first down and that might in and of itself kind of shift the momentum and have a psychological effect on our team. I have no issues with the decision. Under all the circumstances, with Liberty coming to UVA to play in our stadium with the game being close, I admired it.”

Alive and well, the Virginia defense intercepted Calvert on Liberty’s next two possessions. The Cavaliers capitalized on the latter with a Perkins-to-Reed touchdown pass to go up 45-24 with 12:30 remaining in the game. The Flames would not cross into Virginia territory on either of its final two drives, which both resulted in punts.

In the end, Virginia held a potent Liberty offense to 354 yards of offense. The Flames passing attack, which was averaging 323.9 yards per game coming in, managed only 149 yards. Calvert threw three interceptions, with the two second-half picks – by De’Vante Cross and Thornhill – all but ending his team’s chances. Virginia was better in the second-half against a surprisingly efficient Liberty rushing attack, allowing only 66 yards in 18 attempts in the final 30 minutes, but certainly this is an area of concern with Georgia Tech and its triple-option attack awaiting next Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

The Cavalier defense played its first full game without starting defensive end Mandy Alonso, who is out for the season. Redshirt freshman Tommy Christ earned his first start of his career in Alonso’s place and finished with two tackles (both assisted). The Hoos were also without sophomore safety Joey Blount, who like Alonso and Thornhill was injured last week versus Pitt. Cross took Blount’s spot in the safety rotation and responded with eight tackles and the interception. Linebacker Elliott Brown came through with the other Cavalier pick, and linebacker Rob Snyder had the game’s only sack.

Box Score
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2 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. Chris-

    I believe that your audience or clientele are those who are avid followers of the HOOS and as such what we do not need is a recap of the game on Sunday evening. Through Jeff White (another great insider), ESPN and other sources we have already devoured all the articles and statistics of the game and really need an insider’s view of the game, someone who was at the game, like Jeff White, someone who is more of an export to whom we are paying a monthly or annual fee to get better information from an insider. What am I looking for?

    1. What specifically is the reason for giving up some much overall yardage rushing and long TD runs every game? This is not Bronco Mendenhall defense but the last 30 minutes is? Really, even against Pittsburgh we knew going in that they were predominately a great offense running the ball so why not load up the box and dare them to throw? You were there, who is not covering every gap in the front 7 and who is out of position in the DB’s which allows these RB’s to run for so many long TD’s?
    2. Dylan Thompson has played in two games and Christ started; I can see their statistics but how were they playing and for that matter how is Redmond doing?
    3. Who specifically is doing the best job on the OL?
    4. Do you attend the postgame press conferences and if so why aren’t any of you reporters asking in-depth questions of Coach Mendenhall? I watch these on YouTube and they are pretty much watered down/plain vanilla questions.
    I do not mean to be critical but you and Kris are much better than giving a scoring overview of the game. Prior to Fall camp you both wrote 100 incredible articles about the team. We need that kind of depth and insight on the games.

    Georgia Tech has little or no passing threat so our defense has to put 8 or more in the box or at least all swarm to the ball carrier. I have seen this at BYU and know it is possible and for the most part, especially the DB’s, are better and faster athletes than Bronco had at BYU. Maybe ask why we aren’t playing more man coverage which allows more to focus on the run.

    Thanks,

    Walt

    1. Walt,

      We don’t provide every angle in every story. The game recap is meant to be a thematic overview of what happened in that week’s game. It is not paid content. It is free. It’s meant to briefly catalog the results of each week’s game that can be reviewed later in the archives to refresh people’s memories about what happened in a specific game.

      Follow-up articles are meant to cover more of the how and why questions that you asked. These vary week to week. The one that appears every week that puts some context behind thing is Greg’s Grades. Bullet points in there will often tell you who/which unit was received a ‘down grade’ for a missed assignment on a long run/etc or how the OL is playing (or if anyone is standing out; they aren’t). As for why long runs are happening, that was covered after the Miami game as improving with some context to what was going wrong prior to that. Injuries have caused the issues to resurface.

      In summary, game recap = appetizer. Greg’s Grades/etc. = entree/side dishes. 🙂

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