Virginia hadn’t been able to get much going with its run game, and that’s being charitable in describing how things had gone this season.
Coming into Saturday’s game with Liberty, the ‘Hoos were generating an ACC-worst 113.3 yards per game, and just 3.5 yards per carry.
And what little UVA has been able to get has been from quarterback Bryce Perkins, who’s had to double as the team’s leading rusher.
For one week, at least, the Cavaliers were able to move the ball on the ground, and without having to tax Perkins too much to be able to do so.
Virginia piled up a season-high 227 yards, and Perkins only had to account for 30 of them.
You had P.K. Kier going for 82 yards, Lamont Atkins for 61, Mike Hollins for 30.
Each of the three scored touchdowns on the ground.
It’s one week, against a program still getting its feet in FBS, so, don’t get too fat and happy.
That said, it was nice to see.
“It’s our ideal if you look at the balance on the sheet today,” UVA coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “When you have the running back run-game in addition to the quarterback run-game, in addition to the throw-game, that becomes more of the intent of what we would like to do on a consistent basis. It’s encouraging, it’s needed and it’s necessary. It’s coming at the right time in these last three or four weeks.”
Over those last three, all Virginia wins, the Cavaliers are averaging 172 yards per game on the ground, and 4.6 yards per carry, with nine TDs on the ground.
It feels like some momentum heading into the matchup with Virginia Tech next weekend.
“We were all having fun out there and encouraging each other,” Kier said Saturday. “When you play as one, this is what happens. We can be something special out there, and it was a big win today. “
“Today was amazing,” Atkins said. “The running backs were really focused on our goal today, which was to make a statement and to be effective on the ground. I thought we did really good at that all around.”
Story by Chris Graham
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