Cavs survive shootout, get just enough out of defense
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The ACC Coastal Division race shifted decisively to the north Saturday night.
Bryce Perkins and Terrell Jana made sure of it.
Perkins passed for 378 yards and three touchdowns and Jana caught 13 balls on a career night to lead Virginia to a crucial 38-31 Coastal win over North Carolina at Kenan Stadium.
The victory gave the Cavaliers (6-3, 4-2 ACC) sole possession of first place in the division and further cleared a path to a title. It also guaranteed them bowl eligibility for a third straight season, a fact not lost on fourth-year coach Bronco Mendenhall.
“We wanted postseason to be normal,” the former Brigham Young coach said. “We wanted it to be, ‘That’s just what happens with U.Va. football.’ It’s gratifying now for that to happen another year, not only for our players, but our fans. It’s just another sign of the program becoming healthier.”
And things could certainly get even better. U.Va. has regular-season games remaining against last-place Georgia Tech, non-conference foe Liberty and rival Virginia Tech, all at home.
On Saturday, the Cavaliers survived a shootout and managed to play just enough defense when they had to.
A fourth-down stop with a minute left kept the Tar Heels (4-5, 3-3), who entered the game in a first-place tie with U.Va., at arm’s length.
Jana racked up 146 receiving yards while Perkins hit three other receivers for scores.
Sam Howell passed for 353 yards and four touchdowns for UNC, which had 539 total yards to the Cavaliers’ 517. Perkins alone accounted for 490 yards of total offense, including 112 on the ground, the third-most ever accumulated against the Tar Heels.
It was a far cry from Mendenhall’s first year at the school, when U.Va. limped to a 2-10 record and seemed like a lost cause.
“Back in the day, getting to a bowl game would be the victory of a season and a huge thing,” said defensive end Eli Hanback. “But now this will be our third bowl game in a row. It’s expected of us now to go to bowl games.”
Both teams scored at least 30 points for just the second time in the 124-game series, which dates back to 1892.
Tight end Grant Misch caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Perkins, the first reception of Misch’s career, to give the Cavaliers a short-lived 38-24 lead late in the third quarter. But Howell hit Dyami
Brown with a 42-yard scoring bomb just 1:47 later to pull UNC to within 38-31.
Jana, Misch and Tanner Cowley have hardly become household names to U.Va. fans. But they made their mark when they needed to.
“I think we’ve finally opened up a little bit,” Jana said, referring to the offense.
“I think tonight we played as a whole, and it shows what we can do.”
Brown caught six passes for 202 yards and three touchdowns for UNC.
Mendenhall was especially pleased that his players weren’t overwhelmed by the widely known must-win nature of the game in the Coastal picture.
“I haven’t seen them that optimistic and joyful and anticipatory,” he said. “Yeah, it just didn’t seem like the circumstance was too big, and it didn’t seem like the pressure was there. It was almost like they had surrendered the outcome, and they were just going to go play as hard as they could, come what may. That was refreshing to see.”
Perkins, who transferred from an Arizona community college before last season and became an instant star, said he continues to take comfort in the fact that the Cavaliers’ destiny remains in their own hands.
“It’s on us to win out,” he said. “And if we do, we don’t have to rely on anybody else on losing games. We’ve got to practice with that mentality. We’ve got to play with that mentality. This game kept us on top, but we’re not done yet. We’ve got two more ACC games, and we’ve got to keep rolling.”