Bryce Perkins searched the field before running up the middle.
The Virginia quarterback dodged defenders as he ran 65 yards to the end zone in the opening minutes of the second half, putting the Cavaliers up 24-17. Just before halftime, UVA had scored in the final drive to tie the game.
That meant 14 straight points were given up by the North Carolina defense within the last few minutes of the first half and the opening minutes of the second.
“The last four of the first half and the second four of the first half, it’s big,” senior safety Myles Dorn said. “It’s what makes or breaks a team. That’s a 14-point turnaround right there. If we limit just one of those, we can have a chance to win the game.”
That segment of the game was a big reason for UNC’s 38-31 loss to UVA (6-3, 4-2), dropping the Tar Heels (4-5, 3-3) out of a tie for first in the ACC Coastal Division.
“It’s frustrating,” Dorn said. “We’ve got to find ways to get stops.”
Perkins totaled 490 yards, the third-most by any player against UNC all-time, and five total touchdowns, with 112 of his yards coming on the ground.
“You couldn’t stop him with the running game,” head coach Mack Brown said. “We didn’t stop the quarterback run against Virginia Tech. We didn’t stop the quarterback run against Wake Forest, so we had to stop the quarterback run tonight."
Heading into the Coastal division matchup, the teams expected the game to be defensively heavy, but the opposite happened. The 38-31 score marks just the second time these teams have scored more than 30 points against each other during their rivalry.