Yes, Virginia, your ‘Hoos are in first place in the ACC Coastal heading into November.
UVA got 217 yards passing and 112 yards rushing and four touchdowns from quarterback Bryce Perkins to key a 31-21 win over North Carolina on Saturday.
The Cavaliers (6-2, 4-1 ACC) scored first, on a 10-yard TD run by Perkins, who had 75 total yards on the opening drive.
After UNC tied the game on a 30-yard TD pass from Nathan Elliott to Dazz Newsome, but Virginia would go on top 17-7 in the second quarter, after a Perkins-to-Joe Reed 27-yard touchdown pass and a Brian Delaney 37-yard field goal.
A Caleb Tucker 16-yard TD catch would close it to 17-14 at the half.
A pair of TD passes from Perkins, to Hasise Dubois and Evan Butts, would push the UVA lead to 31-14 in the fourth quarter.
A Michael Carter 1-yard TD run got the Heels back within 10, but that was as close as it would get.
Adjustments
North Carolina found success in the second quarter with a two-minute offense approach that included no substitutions and snaps almost from the moment the ball was placed down by the officials.
Virginia made an adjustment at halftime to get more pressure at the line of scrimmage against that personnel grouping that forced a string of three-and-outs from the UNC offense in the third quarter.
Perkins: The star
Perkins was the linchpin in a wide-open scheme from offensive coordinator Robert Anae, who used Perkins on read options, triple options, wildcats and RPOs.
Perkins also looked solid throwing the ball, completing 18 of his 27 pass attempts, with three touchdowns and one interception.
The interception was on a deep ball that was slightly overthrown.
Dubois saved Perkins’ lunch a bit on his 33-yard TD catch in the third quarter. On a third-and-long play, Dubois was open on a seam route, but the ball was Perkins was severely underthrown. Dubois plucked the ball almost literally off his shoetop around the 15 yard line, then streaked into the end zone untouched.
The 16-yard TD pass to Butts early in the fourth quarter was a great catch by Butts, and an even better throw by Perkins, on a fade into the right corner, on a play call that featured action that made the intent look like UVA was running a bubble screen.
The stakes
Virginia is alone in first in the ACC Coastal with a 4-1 record. The ‘Hoos host Pitt next week in a Friday-night national-TV game.
UVA may very well be ranked by that time. A trip to Charlotte on Dec. 1 should be the goal for this team, picked seventh (and dead last) in the Coastal in the preseason.
Story by Chris Graham
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