Indiana Holds Off Virginia Rally On The Very Last Play, 20-16

It all came down to one controversial play at the end, but Bryce Perkins’ long pass with no time left on the clock was knocked down at the very back of the Indiana end zone, allowing the Hoosiers to hold on and beat Virginia 20-16.

Virginia had gotten one last chance to score the go-ahead touchdown when they received an Indiana punt at their own 9 with 3:23 to go. They drove to the Indiana 31 with only 16 seconds left and faced a 4^th and 5. Then things got a little wild.

Perkins rolled to his right and attempted to hit Hasise DuBois around the 21-yard line. Indiana defensive back Rayeem Layne at first made contact with DuBois’ helmet and DuBois stopped as if he had been poked in the eye. Layne then threw him to the ground as the ball was in the air, allowing him to intercept the pass and return it deep into Virginia territory.

Pass interference was called on Layne and the ball came back. But because of the length of the interception return, all 16 seconds had run off the clock. Despite the official who called the penalty announcing to the crowd “15-yard penalty, first down” the officials only marked it four yards closer to the goal line at the 27. Typically a pass interference call is a spot foul if within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage, which would explain the ball not being marked off 15 yards. But since the incident started at the 21 – and DuBois was thrown down at the 26, it’s hard to understand the mark at the 27.

Officials gave UVA one untimed down since the clock was at zero. Perkins dropped back, spun slightly to his right to give himself some time to lob the ball deep, then launched a long pass from the Indiana 40. Four white jerseys – including Joe Reed, Olamide Zaccheaus and DuBois – were in the end zone, but the ball was knocked away by a host of Indiana defenders in the back of the end zone

UVA had started the game fast, taking the opening kickoff back to the 29 and then driving the remaining 71 yards in in 11 plays. The key play was a 47-yard quarterback draw by Perkins, and the touchdown came on a 1-yard pass from Perkins to Zaccheaus to give the Wahoos a 7-0 lead.

Indiana answered on its next possession when Stevie Scott broke outside on a basic off tackle running play from the UVA 40 and went the rest of the way untouched to the end zone. Bad luck hit the Wahoos immediately as Joe Reed fumbled the ensuing kickoff on his own 21, and two plays later, Indiana scored again as Indiana quarterback Peyton Ramsey threw 9 yards to Donovan Hale.

Momentum came back to Virginia however, as the Cavaliers blocked the extra point attempt and Juan Thornhill not only recovered, he ran the ball all the way back for a two-point conversion. That cut the Indiana lead to 13-9 with 5:53 left in the first quarter.

It stayed that way until the final moments of the second quarter, when two big pass plays and a 15-yard penalty quickly drove Indiana down the field into the end zone. Ramsey hit Nick Westbrook on a 23-yard scoring pass play with 1:36 left in the half and the halftime score ended up being Indiana 20, Virginia 9.

Only one more score would occur in the second half. With 7:59 left in the third quarter, Perkins drove the Wahoos 71 yards in 7 plays, culminating with a 20-yard TD pass to Chris Sharp. That made it 20-16 with a lot of time left, the way it would stay until the final seconds.

Perkins finished the game completing 12 of 24 passes for 106 yards and the two Virginia touchdowns. He also carried the ball 25 times for 123 yards. Zaccheaus had 5 catches for 15 yards and DuBois had 4 for 49, while Jordan Ellis gained 63 yards on the ground on 12 carries.

For Indiana, the killer for Stevie Scott, who was getting a chance to play when Indiana’s top two running backs were declared out for the game. Scott had 204 yards on 31 carries and a touchdown. Peyton Ramsey, a thorn in Virginia’s side last year, was a similar problem this year, completing 16 of 22 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns.

Defensively for Virginia, Joey Blount had 13 tackles including 12 solos and 1 for a loss. Malcolm Cook had 9 tackles and 6 solo tackles, while specials teams blocked both an extra point and a field goal attempt.

	VIRGINIA	INDIANA
Total Yards	294	387
Passing Yards	106	150
Rushing Yards	188	237
Penalties	5-56	6-42
First Downs	15	21
3rd Downs	7-16	8-15
4th Downs	1-1	0-0
Total Plays	64	66
Average Yards Per Play	4.6	5.9
Average Yards Per Completion	8.8	9.4
Average Yards Per Rush	4.8	5.4
Sack-Adj Rush Yd (Avg)	188 (4.8)	237 (5.4)
Red Zone	2-2	1-1
Time of Possession	30:24	29:36
Turnovers	1(6)	1(0)
Fumbles-Lost	3-1	1-0
Sacks	0 (0)	0 (0)
Tackles For Loss	6 (19)	9 (23)

Virginia	9	0	7	0	16
Indiana	13	7	0	0	20

			VA	IU
1st	09:36	VA – Olamide Zaccheaus 1 pass from Bryce Perkins (A.J. Mejia kick)	7	0
1st	06:27	IU – Stevie Scott 40 Run (Logan Justus kick)	7	7
1st	05:53	IU – Donovan Hale 9 pass from Peyton Ramsey (kick blocked)	7	13
1st	05:53	VA – Juan Thornhill 98 return of blocked XP	9	13
2nd	01:36	IU – Nick Westbrook 23 pass from Peyton Ramsey (Logan Justus kick)	9	20
3rd	07:59	VA – Chris Sharp 20 pass from Bryce Perkins (A.J. Mejia kick)	16	20

Virginia Offensive Statistics

Rushing	Attempts	Yards	TD	Lg	Avg
Bryce Perkins	25	123	0	47	4.9
Jordan Ellis	12	63	0	19	5.3
Joe Reed	1	8	0	8	8.0
Olamide Zaccheaus	1	-6	0	0	-6.0

Passing	Cmp-Att-Int	Yds	TD	Rating	Sack
Bryce Perkins	12-24-0	106	2	114.6	0

Receiving	No.	Yds	TD	Long
Olamide Zaccheaus	5	15	1	9
Hasise Dubois	4	49	0	24
Chris Sharp	1	20	1	20
Tanner Cowley	1	15	0	15
Jordan Ellis	1	7	0	7

Virginia Defensive Statistics

No.	Player	Total	Solo	Sack	TFL	Int	BrUp
29	Joey Blount	13	12	0	1	0	1
17	Malcolm Cook	9	6	0	0	0	0
13	Chris Peace	7	5	0	2	0	0
21	Juan Thornhill	7	5	0	0	1	0
37	Jordan Mack	5	4	0	1	0	0
16	Richard Burney	4	3	0	0	0	0
32	Darius Bratton	4	4	0	0	0	1
34	Bryce Hall	4	4	0	0	0	3
11	Charles Snowden	3	3	0	1	0	0
58	Eli Hanback	3	2	0	0.5	0	0
91	Mandy Alonzo	3	1	0	0	0	0
33	Zane Zandier	2	0	0	0	0	0
76	Jordan Redmond	2	1	0	.5	0	0
2	Joe Reed	1	1	0	0	0	0
25	Lamont Atkins	1	1	0	0	0	0