Mendenhall On Perkins: ‘How Do You Stop Him?’

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Saturday night must have been exactly what Bronco Mendenhall dreamed about when Bryce Perkins transferred to Virginia.

Without the dual-threat quarterback, the No. 21 Cavaliers don’t smell the nation’s Top 25. Without Perkins, they’re not 3-0. Without him, no way they beat Florida State in a thriller-diller that erupted into field-storming fan celebration that hasn’t been seen in these parts in a very long time.

In UVA’s comeback win over FSU, Perkins shook off a pair of first-half interceptions and was about as close to perfection as a quarterback can be to finish the game, a 31-24 Cavaliers’ win.

During one stretch, Perkins was perfect. He completed 16 consecutive passes in leading Virginia to three scoring drives against the Seminoles. In the second half alone, the senior was 17 of 19 passing. One of the incompletions was a dropped pass by an open receiver. The other was a throwaway while under pressure.

Perkins did more than throw the football. Everyone knows that he can destroy opponents with his feet, too.

With the Cavaliers trailing 17-10 late in the third quarter, UVA was facing a critical fourth-and-two situation at the FSU 33. Perkins ended up with the carry and fought for the first down, actually gaining six yards and a huge first down that led to a game-tying touchdown four plays later on a perfectly thrown pass that Joe Reed ran under in the left side of the end zone.

Again trailing, 24-23, late in the fourth quarter, Perkins methodically marched Virginia 72 yards for the go-ahead touchdown, 29-24, when Mendenhall elected to go for a two-point conversion and make it a seven-point spread.

Of all Perkins’ magical running plays in his 16-game career at UVA, perhaps this was the most thrilling and somewhat mindblowing. He was looking to pass to the right side of the field, but no one was open, so he turned back to his left, still couldn’t find a receiver, but found a gap and danced into the end zone.

“How do you stop him?” Mendenhall said when Perkins’ deeds came up in the postgame. “We’re not growing the program at the rate we’re growing it without Bryce Perkins.

“He plays within the system really well and he plays outside the system really well, and we need both. He’s exemplary. I’m so lucky he’s here and we’re so lucky he’s here, not only by how he plays but who he is. Without him, we don’t win.”

Great atmosphere, Great fans, Great Team, Great win, Great weekend #Believe

— B Perk (@3_ToDaNeck) September 15, 2019

While Perkins was red-hot during the second half, he wasn’t totally conscious of the zone he was in with his passing performance.

“Honestly, when the game was going, I didn’t know,” the QB said. “I was just going on each drive and focusing on getting completions and moving the ball down the field and matching if [FSU] scored, or if we need a score to go up. I was just trying to keep the drive going and keep the offense moving forward. We did a great job of executing.”

Halftime adjustments helped both Perkins and the offense. In the first half, he was 13 of 21 for 138 yards and was intercepted twice by the Seminoles. He also had 40 yards rushing on eight attempts.

Even with the picks, Mendenhall trusted his quarterback would flush those decisions and be better in the second half.

“I think it’s just the same kind of scenario that he threw some interceptions the week before (two against William & Mary) … out of the pocket and just trying to do a little too much,” Mendenhall said. “It’s a fine line. I would much rather rein him in. I want an aggressive quarterback. I want him to try and make plays and I want him to think he can make every play.”

And the interceptions?

“We just look at each other … and, OK, onward,” the coach said.

For the game, Perkins finished with 295 passing yards, the eighth time in 16 games for Virginia that he has thrown for 200-plus yards. He has thrown for at least one TD in 15 of those 16 games. Saturday’s 30 completions and 41 pass attempts were both career highs.

“He threw some really good balls and I was just making the most of the opportunities,” said receiver Terrell Jana, who hauled in seven passes for 85 yards. “Bryce is electric. He’s a magician back there, man. He is one of the best players in the country, and we see him do this every single day in practice so it is no surprise.

“I’m glad to have the guy on my team.”

Reed, who had eight catches for 83 yards and a TD, said that Perkins kept the offense calm in the huddle.

“Very rarely does he ever panic,” Reed said. “He’s just matter of fact and tells us what we need to do to win.”

That’s because, by his own admission, Perkins hates to lose. He has now won 11 of the 16 games he has started as a Cavalier. He also readily will note that he plays his best when he slows things down mentally and emotionally and plays under control, something he learned in high school back in Arizona.

“At halftime I just had to slow it down,” he said. “It was an exciting game. The atmosphere was really exciting. But I had to slow it down and get back to the basics. We just came in and regrouped.”

While he slowed down mentally, he sped up his decision-making and his reads of FSU’s pass defense. He also decided to get rid of the ball quicker to his receivers.

He finished with 46 yards rushing, none bigger than the afformentioned fourth-and-two conversion.

“It was supposed to be a run to Wayne [Taulapapa], but I kind of got too far out with the handoff, so I just tried to push it in there and force at least three yards out of the play and keep the feet moving, the thighs moving,” Perkins said.

A quarterback who runs with the speed and power of a running back, Perkins, at 215 pounds, can run with authority. He did exactly that on the run to the left side of the line, where it appeared he was stopped, but bulled his way to the key first down.

The two-point conversion was absolutely magical.

We still can’t believe this play by Bryce Perkins 😳 pic.twitter.com/dxIYSqnbKm

— ACC Network (@accnetwork) September 15, 2019

“It was mostly freestyle,” Perkins admitted. “I went to the first read (to the right side of the field) and it wasn’t there. I spaced back to the backside (left) and the backside receivers were working to the right side with me when I [initially] rolled that way.

“I came back and just waited for a receiver and didn’t see nobody. I was just waiting for somebody to come in my line of vision. I was just trying to buy time, trusting my feet. I just saw a lane and decided to run it in. My guy — I think it was (left guard) Ryan Nelson — made a great block and I just ran it in.”

It was almost as if Perkins tip-toe danced his way into the end zone, sending Scott Stadium into a frenzy, and deflating Florida State’s defense once again.

“I didn’t care what I had to do to win the game, I was going to do it,” Perkins said. “Anytime I stepped on the field, I came with that mindset regardless of what happens. We were going to end this game, this drive with a touchdown.”

For any worriesome fans, fearful that Perkins’ running exposes him too much to potential injury, that’s just the way it is. That’s just football.

Mendenhall, who had starting quarterbacks stung by injury at BYU, is well aware of the risks. He’s also well aware that Perkins can’t be Perkins if he isn’t allowed to run the football with abandonment. Perkins is taking advantage of the slide more now, but isn’t opposed to running over a would-be tackler.

“It’s part of our design for him, regardless of the opponent, and we think that it’s essential that he does run, not only in designed runs, but creative and scramble runs, to have us be succesful as a team,” Mendenhall said.

“That’s one of the things that makes him and us difficult to stop when that’s going well. So there are traditional runs and traditional plays, and then there is just Bryce. I’m for just Bryce plays.”

The coach said he’s not limiting that exposure. He wants his quarterback to be confident and assertive, fast-thinking and aggressive. Part of that is the off-script that Perkins freestyles.

“From the defensive side, that is really hard to handle,” Mendenhall pointed out. “There is no design to stop that. If [defenses] do design for it, that takes away from something else.”

Mendenhall knows how difficult it is to stop an opposing quarterback with those skills, the best example of that being former Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson at Louisville a few years ago.

“Man, there were times he was getting sacked so much, but then he would pull it down and run and score on a 50-yard play,” the coach said. “Just very difficult to scheme, to manage, and to stop.”

Just what Mendenhall had dreamed of when Perkins arrived in Charlottesville.