Florida Football: 3 takeaways from Orange Bowl win over Virginia

(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

2. Bryce Perkins had his own phenomenal game at the Orange Bowl

Trask put in a solid performance at the Orange Bowl. So too did his counterpart for the Cavaliers, Bryce Perkins, who was the catalyst for the Virginia offense all season long. Perkins lived up to the billing once again in his final college game after a circuitous path that took him from Arizona State through the junior-college ranks to Charlottesville.

Most of his completions came on checkdowns and shorter throws. Perkins, though, did some real damage through the air. In a first half where Perkins went 12-of-16 for 108 yards through the air, his two biggest throws were the two touchdown passes that kept Virginia in the game. Right after Trask threw an interception for Florida, Perkins made the Gators pay immediately with a 34-yard strike to Terrell Jana.

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Early in the second quarter, Perkins threw another strike to tie the game once again. Hopping over a defender in the backfield and scrambling to his right to extend the play, Perkins tossed a high pass to the back of the endzone that Hasise Dubois climbed the ladder to bring down and managed to toe-tap inbounds to level the game.

In his final college game, Perkins finished the day with 323 yards through the air on 28-of-40 passing. He threw four touchdown passes and added 24 rushing yards when he tucked the ball and ran.

Even though the comeback bid ultimately fell short when Perkins threw an interception in the red zone with just over five minutes remaining, it was still an all-around impressive performance to keep Virginia anywhere near contention. Perkins certainly did enough in his final college football game at the Orange Bowl to warrant some long looks from NFL teams looking to take a flyer with a Day 3 draft pick this spring.