Big Win Over Ohio Features Eye-Popping Offensive Numbers

Virginia came to the Music City to avoid a hurricane wreaking havoc on its football weekend. Instead, it was the Cavaliers that wreaked havoc, pounding Ohio University 45-31, in a game played at neutral site Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, Tenn.

It was a game UVa felt had to be played in order to give it a chance at making back-to-back bowl games.

With several other games in the Mid-Atlantic canceled because of hurricane Florence, Virginia pulled out all the stops to get this game in.

After bolting to a 35-7 start in what appeared to be a potential blowout, Ohio, a member of the Mid-America Conference, made the Cavaliers sweat for the win. In what is considered a “buy game,” meaning UVa paid $650,000 for the Bobcats to play a one-time road game, things looked in doubt early in the third quarter when Ohio scored quickly to draw within 38-28 with a strong passing game.

From that point on, Virginia’s defense stiffened and stopped the Bobcats on a fourth-down gamble, then two punts, before Ohio drew its last breath with a 45-yard field goal with three minutes to play.

By then, UVa quarterback Bryce Perkins had the game tucked away with some eye-popping offensive numbers from him and two of his teammates.

The junior college transfer turned Vandy Stadium into his personal shooting gallery, shredding Ohio’s secondary for a career-high 379 yards on a 25-for-30 passing performance.

His favorite target, senior slot receiver Olamide Zaccheaus, showed everyone what UVa offensive coordinator Robert Anae was talking about when he said it was important to get the ball in Zaccheaus’ hands. The speedy receiver finished with the most receiving yards in Virginia history: 247, including scoring catch-and-runs of 86 and 77 yards.

Meanwhile, senior running back Jordan Ellis enjoyed a career-game as well, rushing for 171 yards, mostly right up the middle of the Bobcats’ defense. Ellis became the first UVa player to rush for three scores since Kevin Parks did so against William and Mary in 2011.

Overall, Coach Bronco Mendenhall had to be pleased with the offense, which piled up 552 yards, its most since last season’s 662 against UConn.

However, Wahoos fans shouldn’t get overly excited, considering that Ohio surrendered more than 600 yards of offense to Howard University in its opener two weeks ago.

Defensively, Mendenhall must be as concerned with his pass defense, which was supposed to be the team’s strength, as he was pleased with the offense. On the verge of getting blown out of Nashville, the Bobcats struck quickly on a 29-yard TD pass to wide receiver Papi White, who finished the day with 131 receiving yards.

That score came after Virginia’s lone turnover, when Perkins was stripped of the ball on a pass attempt.

Ohio coach Frank Solich rolled the dice on an ensuing onside kick that gave his team the ball at his own 46 and struck quickly again on a 36-yard scoring strike to redshirt freshman Isiah Cox.

Two touchdowns in 37 seconds left Virginia temporarily dazed before ending the half with a 32-yard field goal and a 38-21 lead.

White, who has led the Bobcats in receiving for the past two seasons, was a thorn in UVa’s saddle most of the game.

The fact that his team held off Ohio’s surge was a good sign to Mendenhall.

“I saw resilience and the need to keep executing,” Mendenhall said. “I saw the resilience necessary because of miscues on our part. So, a turnover right before the half when we allow a sack, they drill the kickoff right into one of our guys and we hadn’t worked on that, didn’t get out of the way and didn’t recover it.

“So simple things like that, at the end a dropped punt, those kinds of things are the exact reason more volume, more pressure, more stress to uncover it all while we win,” the coach said.

The shocking part of it all was that Virginia’s secondary seemed so vulnerable. Veterans Tim Harris and Juan Thornhill were each burned as the Cavaliers gave up too many yards through the passing game to sit well with fans.

“In a football game, every rep matters,” Mendenhall said. “And you saw the different situations and some of the things that we did well and some of the inconsistencies that we certainly have to get fixed.

“And so, the game was an exact manifestation of why we need the game and why we needed to play,” he added. “And winning is important. Any game is hard to win. We needed the game and I’m proud of my guys.”

Breaking in a new quarterback, Mendenhall is attempting to get Perkins as many reps as possible so that he will become more and more comfortable in the offense. Perkins, who ran the ball more in the first two games (a win over Richmond and a close loss at Indiana in the rain), didn’t roam from the pocket any more than necessary against Ohio.

In face, Perkins has never been sharper as a passer, raising his completion percentage to 67.5 (50-74) for the season. He has passed for 675 yards, 8 touchdowns, and only been intercepted once (on his first possession in the season opener).

Virginia must have been confident that Perkins wouldn’t have to risk his health by running the ball much in this game, particularly when he could simply hand off to Ellis, who sliced and diced the Bobcats to shreds. When Ellis wasn’t rumbling for big yardage, Zaccheaus was showing why he is such an important weapon.

“Biggest play of the game was the third down at the end where it looks like if they have a chance to stop us there, who knows in terms of maybe not a win,” Mendenhall said with a shadow of doubt. “Yards after the catch were critical and it looked a lot like the play in the first half.”

On a third-and-four in his own territory, Zaccheaus took a Perkins pass and jetted 77 yards down the right sideline for the scored that iced Virginia’s second win in three games.

And the 5,428 fans went wild.

Because it was a neutral site so far from either school, it wasn’t like watching a team from the ACC and MAC was a big draw in SEC territory. Admission was free for any soul that was interested.

Virginia gave up 364 yards of prime Tennessee real estate, mostly through the airways with Rourke passing for 246. After giving up more than 200 on the ground last week in Bloomington, the Bobcats’ 118 didn’t seem too bad.

If nothing else for Virginia coming out of this game, it gained a better knowledge of how to best use its three most lethal offensive weapons. Zaccheaus was spectacular, showing speed that was good enough to leave MAC tacklers in his wake, but will that be good enough when ACC competition begins next Saturday against Louisville.

Even Solich, who has seen some fireworks on offense in his time, wasn’t happy with how his team defended Virginia in the first half.

“The early part of the game was ridiculous in terms of explosive plays that we gave up and then kind of got going a little bit towards the end,” the ex-Nebraska head coach said.

All things considered, Virginia did what he came to Nashville to do. It played a game that it desperately needed to play, and it showed flashes of brilliance and built confidence that could help in the long haul.

Yes, there were concerns as UVa left Nashville with its self-respect intact, but concerns that the coaches believe they can fix before Louisville invades the friendly confines of Scott Stadium.