Florida Football: 3 takeaways from Orange Bowl win over Virginia

1. Lamical Perine broke down strong Virginia front-seven

On the third play of the game, with less than a minute ticked off the game clock at the Orange Bowl, Lamical Perine received his first handoff of the game. Perine immediately burst through the point of attack and rattled off a 61-yard touchdown run that put Florida up right out of the gate against Virginia.

Midway through the first quarter, Perine was at it again. This time he did his damage as a receiver out of the backfield, taking a pass from Kyle Trask and keeping his legs churning through a tackle until he turned the short catch into a 16-yard touchdown.

https://twitter.com/ESPNCFB/status/1211825640997097472

By the end of the first quarter, Perine already boasted 94 total yards and a pair of scores from scrimmage on just two carries and three receptions. At halftime, against a Virginia team giving up only 130 yards per game on the ground, he was already up to 102 rushing yards on only five carries — and he added a second rushing score for good measure.

https://twitter.com/ESPNCFB/status/1211839761238953985

Perine ended the game with 138 rushing yards, singlehandedly putting more yards on the Cavaliers than they allowed per game this year. He added 43d receiving yards and three total scores to put together his most complete performance of the year on the biggest stage.

Against a Virginia team that came into the Orange Bowl giving up fewer than 360 total yards to opponents, Perine accounted for more than half of that total by himself. The senior running back capped his Florida career with the perfect exclamation point before he heads off to try to make his name at the pro level.