Field Level Media
Oct 13, 2018
Bryce Perkins survived a sloppy start and steered Virginia to a 16-13 upset of No. 16 Miami on Saturday night, the Cavaliers' fourth win against the Hurricanes in Charlottesville, Va., since 2010.
Virginia (4-2, 2-1 ACC) improved to 4-0 at home and halted a five-game win streak by Miami (5-2, 2-1).
The Cavaliers, who defeated the Hurricanes at home in 2010, 2012 and 2014, beat a ranked team for the first time since a 23-21 win against No. 21 Louisville on Sept. 13, 2014.
UVA led wire-to-wire and avoided another disappointment like last season, when it was up by 14 in the third quarter at No. 2 Miami and ended up losing 44-28.
Miami lost command of the ACC's Coastal Division, and Virginia got a signature win for third-year coach Bronco Mendenhall, who had been 0-5 against Top 25 opponents.
Miami also left the game with a quarterback controversy.
Making his first career road start, redshirt freshman N'Kosi Perry was picked off on two of his six pass attempts. A week after Perry tossed four touchdown passes and rallied Miami from a 20-point, second-half deficit to beat Florida State, he didn't make it through the second quarter.
Senior Malik Rosier finished 12-for-23 passing for 170 yards and one interception after relieving Perry, who was 3-of-6 for 20 yards.
Perkins, meanwhile, was intercepted on three of his first 10 passes, but Miami managed only three points off those three takeaways, all in the first half.
Perkins completed 12 of 21 attempts for 92 yards and rushed for 61 yards. Juan Thornhill led the Virginia defense with two picks, one against each Miami quarterback.
Perkins controlled the ball and the clock in the second half. He directed a 16-play, 73-yard drive that consumed 8:35 and ended with Brian Delaney's third field goal, a 32-yarder that put Virginia up 16-6 with 10:49 left in the game.
Rosier marched Miami 93 yards in 4:38, capping it with an 11-yard touchdown run to cut Virginia's lead to three with 3:04 remaining.
Hurricanes coach Mark Richt then went for the onside kick, but Virginia's Evan Butts grabbed it and ran 30 yards to the Miami 27. An unnecessary roughness penalty by Miami's Tito Odenigbo extended the drive, and a roughing-the-kicker flag with 30 seconds left allowed the Cavaliers to run out the clock.
After a scoreless first quarter, Virginia took a 10-0 lead with a 26-yard field goal by Delaney -- the sophomore kickoff specialist's first career attempt -- and a 7-yard touchdown run by Jordan Ellis.
The Canes cut it to 10-6 on Bubba Baxa's field goals from 47 and 28 yards.
Virginia made it 13-6 on Delaney's 46-yard field goal on the final play of the first half, the Cavs' first field goal of 40-plus yards since the 2015 season.
--Field Level Media