I’ll be honest. I didn’t think the Belk Bowl was a good matchup for Virginia. The Hoos were coming off 2 heartbreaking OT losses, including to arch-rival Virginia Tech. South Carolina had just shredded an elite Clemson defense to pieces, and their QB Jake Bentley looked like a future NFL QB.
The game was just an hour from Columbia so there a lot of South Carolina fans in attendance in Charlotte, NC.
I thought Virginia’s psyche might be damaged, and that even though South Carolina lost by 3 TDs to Clemson they would offensively have plenty confidence.
I had no doubt Bronco Mendenhall had made progress this year, but maybe this bowl game wouldn’t be their day. It didn’t seem to set up well.
All that actually occurred was that Virginia played their best most complete game of the year, and added another huge step in the programs development after hammering South Carolina 28-0.
QB Bryce Perkins played a great dual-threat game throwing for 208 and 3 TDs. He also ran for 81 yards. WR Olamide Zaccheaus, who I told you was one of the 3 best WR’s in the ACC before the season started, had a 100 yards receiving and 3 TDs as Virginia won their first bowl game since 2005.
The entire defense was spectacular shutting out South Carolina and holding them under 250 yards of total offense.
Even in their losses, you could see the physicality on Virginia’s team. Mendenhall in 3 years, has turned this Virgnia program from one that was ACC’s worst teams 3-4 years ago to one that will enter the 2019 as one of the Coastal Division favorites.
Bryce Perkins will return as one of the top QB’s in the ACC too. In his 3rd year at Virginia, like Dino Babers at Syracuse, Mendenhall has completely changed the culture, expectations, and now the win loss totals at their schools.
Virginia looks to be in solid shape as a program going forward.
