Virginia Football uses strong second half to take down Liberty, 45-24

The Virginia Cavaliers secured their first winning regular season since 2011 with a 45-24 victory over the Liberty Flames. Things were a little tighter than Virginia fans would have liked through the first half of the game, but the Cavalier defense stepped it up with two second half interceptions as they separated from the Flames.

Bryce Perkins rebounded from a shaky performance against Pitt last week with a solid game against Liberty. Perkinsfinished 14-for-22 passing for 168 yards and two touchdowns and added 89 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. His lone blemish came late in the second quarter as he threw a pick that led to an easy touchdown for Liberty.

Joe Reed had his best game of the season, with two receptions for 20 yards and two touchdowns. He also returned the kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown to open the second half. Olamide Zaccheaus added 86 yards, and Hasise Dubois had 23 of his own.

On the ground, Jordan Ellis was a work horse with 106 yards and one touchdown for the Hoos. As a group, Virginia picked up 5.7 yards per carry, and had just one play go for a loss all game. One week after Perkins was sacked five times, he had protection from the line and wasn’t sacked once.

Defensively, Virginia had three interceptions and held Liberty to just one touchdown in the second half. The Hoos were only flagged for one penalty—a holding call—in the game. Three players—Juan Thornhill, Robert Snyder, and Jordan Mack—had 10 tackles or more.

Virginia fell behind 7-0 after the opening drive as Liberty amassed 75 yards—61 of which came on the ground—in 4:26. Peytton Pickett had four carries for 52 yards, but it was Frankie Hickson who punched the ball into the end zone on 4th-and-goal from the one yard line for the score.

Joe Reed returned the ensuing kick off to the Virginia 45-yard line, and Perkins found Zaccheaus for 29 yards on the first play from scrimmage. Three plays later, Perkins hit Hasise Dubois on a rope in the end zone to tie things up at seven.