Perkins Was A Nightmare For Carolina’s Shaky Defense To Deal With

Bryce Perkins high-steps to a touchdown as he outruns UNC’s Patrice Rene to the goal line in the first period.
(Photo Courtesy John Markon)

Virginia will wake up Sunday morning sitting atop the ACC’s Coastal Division standings, bowl eligible for the second straight season, and sitting 6-2 overall with a three-game winning streak.

One of the biggest reasons is Bryce Perkins, the junior quarterback who transferred in from obscure Arizona Western Community College with program-changing skill, no ego, and a burning desire to help the Cavaliers win – big.

In UVa’s 31-21 win over crusty old rival North Carolina on Saturday, Perkins’ performance was Blimp Worthy. He passed for 217 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for 112 (net) more and another score.

Perkins was a nightmare for Carolina’s shaky defense to deal with. The Tar Heels had to pick their poison: stop Perkins and let the other Cavaliers beat him; or allow Perkins to run wild.

“[Perkins] can really run and it makes you do some things that open up some things in the passing game,” UNC coach Larry Fedora said. “You have to worry about caging and containing him in a pass rush. You’re really not trying to get sacks as much as you are trying not to let him get out.

“There were times there when [Perkins] got out on the edge, and we have some guys that can run, and he outran them,” Fedora said.

Much of that is by design. The other, well, it’s totally adlib on the elusive Perkins’ part. It goes back to his running back mentality from youth football when he was yet to discover his quarterback abilities. He’s built mentally and physically like a rough-and-tumble running back, just like his brother, his daddy, and his daddy’s uncle, all of whom either played or are playing in the NFL, all as running backs.

We wrote in this column in the preseason that Virginia would win six or seven games this season if Perkins remained healthy because he was a difference-maker. And here we are, with Pitt coming to town for a Friday night game.

Perkins, whom Bronco said doesn’t bring any of the high’s or low’s or drama at the quarterback position, is so smooth that it almost seems effortless. He doesn’t panic when his receivers aren’t open. He doesn’t have Happy Feet.

Instead, he calmly, cooly, darts out of the pocket, gracefully takes off down the field with such fluidity, it’s like he knows the defense can’t catch him. If they come close, he kicks it into another gear that the rest of us just fantasize about.

“If any of us were that fast, we’d probably be like that, too,” Mendenhall laughed. “I mean, who’s going to catch you?”

The coach said that Perkins knows his ability, knows how close defenders can get _ and they get pretty close _ and still not catch him.

“He came to us like that,” Mendenhall said. “We haven’t worked hard on that. He just came that way.”

Perkins set the tone of the game on the opening series when he was responsible for 75 of Virginia’s 83 yards (22 passing, 53 rushing), capped by a 10-yard touchdown run when the defense was dumbfounded by his quickness.

“You can’t play normal defense against Bryce,” Mendenhall said. “The defense has to adjust and then there’s clearly other openings.”

That’s at opposing defense’s peril, because if they adjust to stop Perkins, that usually means Olamide Zaccheaus is left uncovered, and talk about someone who can cause some quick damage.

Like Perkins said after the game, it was simple:

“When they loaded the box, we spread out, and when it was a light box, we ran it up the middle,” the quarterback said.

Seems simple, but there’s a lot of RPO’s (run pass options) to be decided in the blink of an eye, and about 20 to 25 percent audibles, especially when Perkins spots a mismatch advantage for one of his receivers.

“Today it seemed our passes and runs were working, so we kept our foot on the throttle,” Perkins said.

As good as his day was, though, and after being selected to “Break the Rock,” for his performance, Perkins wasn’t satisfied with his effort or where Virginia stood at the end of the day.

“It was good,” Perkins said of his performance. “But I threw a pick, so …

“There were definitely things I missed on. It was a decent day, but there’s going to be a time that I have to come out and perform better than that, eliminate turnovers, and be more smart with the ball.”

And how about the wake of Tar Heel wannabe tacklers left in his wake all afternoon long?

You know they can’t catch you, right? Say it. Say it.

“I was just trying to make guys miss,” Perkins said modestly. “I keep my eyes downfield and try to extend plays and get down.”

After eight games as an FBS player, Perkins has already passed two Virginia legends, “Bullet Bill” Dudley and Shawn Moore and into second-place, all-time on UVa’s single-season quarterback rushing list with 575 yards.

A healthy Perkins can win games that teams aren’t supposed to win. He’s that much of a difference-maker. As a threat to take it to the house any time his hands are on the pigskin, man, that’s lethal.

He’s the kind of game that can accelerate the growth of Virginia’s program.

“I’ve mentioned a number of times, and it’s relevant now and looking back, but it was our intent when we decided to head this way (from BYU to UVa) with a dynamic type of quarterback,” Mendenhall said. “When you consider now the significant change of style of play in eight games _ it’s now our third year together, but eight games with Bryce.

“It’s just so nice not to have the wild ups and wild downs, and he keeps getting better,” Mendenhall said. “So certainly, I would say he is exceeding expectations and just a joy to have on our team.”

Perkins was happy with the win, but not satisfied.

“We want the Coastal, and we’re not going to be satisfied until we get that,” Perkins proclaimed.

The Cavaliers are leading their division now, with three of their last four games against Coastal opponents, Pittsburgh, then at Georgia Tech and at Virginia Tech to close the season (with a nonconference home game against Liberty sandwiched in between).

As good as Perkins was at running the football Saturday (5.3 yards per carry), he wasn’t too shabby throwing it either, if you take that one interception thrown deep into double coverage away.

His 16-yard, over-the-shoulder, TD pass to tight end Evan Butts to begin the fourth quarter, was a thing of beauty.

“Carolina brought the corner blitz, and I knew I had to get the ball up, a 50-50 ball to Butts,” Perkins said. “Butts and Hasise (Dubois) have the best hands on the team, so reliable, so I put it at a high point to give him a chance, and Butts made the play.”

That gave UVa a 31-14 lead with 14 minutes and change to go.

He also connected with Joe Reed for a 27-yard scoring strike early, and a 33-yard TD to Dubois to open the second half, opening up a 24-14 lead on UNC.

That one wasn’t quite so pretty as the one later to Butts.

“It kind of slipped out of my hand a little bit, and when it was in the air, I thought, man, if this is too short I’m going to beat myself up,” Perkins said. “Hasise, all he does is catch, regardless of where he’s at, if he’s covered, if he’s double-teamed, he’ll catch the ball.”

Dubois, who showed more speed than usual, was wide open on the play and gave Virginia a very important touchdown coming out of the locker room. Perkins said the Cavaliers were upset with themselves at halftime because they thought they could have played better in the first half when they built a 17-14 lead.

All in all, a good day for Mr. Perkins, the game-changer, program-changer.

He was chosen to “Break the Rock,” a ritual that the designated player of the game takes a sledgehammer to a rock, but only if UVa wins.

“I thought O would get that because he broke a record, but I enjoyed breaking the rock,” Perkins said. “Still, it was a collective effort. That was my first rock break. I definitely took a piece of that home.”

It may have been the first, but we don’t think it will be the last time that Perkins has a chance to add to his rock collection.