Miami Football: 3 bold predictions for ‘Canes expected win over Virginia
3. Perkins puts up big numbers
In 2017, then Virginia quarterback Kurt Benkert limped into Miami coming off a bad performance against a really bad Louisville defense. The week prior to his trip to Miami Gardens, Benkert completed just over 50 percent of his passes throwing one touchdown and one interception in a loss to the Cardinals. On Nov. 18, Benkert hit the reset button and came out absolutely on fire against the Miami Hurricanes.
Miami defensive coordinator Manny Diaz likes to blitz, often leaving the middle of the football field open for astute quarterbacks to pick apart the defense on intermediate gains. In college football, coaches sometimes feel they can take that risk-reward style because it’s much harder for teams to put together long drives through the air. Yet Mendenhall and Benkert proved it was very possible against Miami.
Benkert finished the game completing 75 percent of his passes and for 384 yards and four touchdowns with only one interception against the Hurricanes. Miami still won the ball game 44-28 but Virginia put a scare in Mark Richt’s undefeated Hurricanes that afternoon. This season, the Hoos are quarterbacked by Bryce Perkins. Perkins is a dual-threat signal caller that’s averaging 8.21 yards per passing attempt while tossing 11 touchdowns and only four interceptions through week 6.
Perkins has also ran for over 100 yards twice on the season and has scored three touchdowns on the ground. Miami has struggled to stop mobile quarterbacks under Manny Diaz as the linebackers are often blitzing or are in man coverage. This man coverage, outside blitz scheme leaves the middle of the field open for not only passes but quarterback runs like draws and just scrambles. Gerald Willis, Miami’s latest star defensive tackle, will have to play lights out to stop the Perkins run game.
Prediction: Perkins throws for 200 yards, runs for 75 yards and scores three times.