Matchup to Watch: Bryce Perkins vs. Indiana's Front Seven
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Allen Stallings (99) and Reakwon Jones (7) will be keyed in on stopping Bryce Perkins Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle
Written By Nathan Comp
After evaluating Indiana and Virginia’s week one performances against Florida International University and Richmond, respectively, it became clear what Indiana must do to remain undefeated: stop Bryce Perkins. Down in Miami, the Indiana defense struggled to pressure the quarterback and stop FIU’s rushing attack. Meanwhile in Charlottesville, UVA QB Bryce Perkins was lighting up the Richmond defense for over 100 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns before halftime. He finished the game with 293 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns through the air to go along with his two rushing scores. For Indiana to win this week, Perkins cannot be allowed to have a similar performance. Standing in his way will be the Hoosier front seven.
After watching the tape of the FIU game, Coach Allen had little praise for his defensive squad. “I did not think we played well defensively. After watching the film, I obviously saw it live and didn't feel great about it. Really disappointed in our fits. I know we got a lot of new faces and I get that, that's part of the growth. I expected to have some of those issues, but I felt like there were too many and just didn't feel like that we were able to get off the field.” Much of this criticism can be directed at the play of the front seven for Indiana. As a defensive-minded and linebacker-driven coach, Tom Allen will always have additional sensitivity to the play of his front seven. But he is not being hypersensitive to last week’s performance; it simply must be better. Tallying only one sack and allowing FIU running back Anthony Jones to have his way with the Indiana defense will not be acceptable moving forward. This week, the front seven will have to rise to the challenge and do a better job of stopping the read option rushing attack between running back Jordan Ellis and quarterback Bryce Perkins. The defense will have to put a strong emphasis on the early-down plays in order to force Virginia into longer, more difficult third downs. Based off last week, Allen mentioned that he, “Did not feel like we did a good enough job on first downs. That, to me, was probably the biggest issue, getting them in manageable situations and created too many third and mediums and third and shorts that are hard.”
The Virginia rushing attack led by quarterback Bryce Perkins showed that when given manageable down-and-distances, they will attack. Removing the two sacks that Perkins took as counting towards rushing attempts, Perkins rushed a total of ten times on Saturday. Seven of those attempts led to either a converted first down or a touchdown. The Indiana front seven must contain Perkins within the pocket and force him to make plays with his arm, which he has shown is the weaker facet of his game. “He's a good, really good quarterback and he's big and strong. So, I’m really impressed with his physical attributes… He will create a definite challenge for sure. It's a totally different football team than we played last year offensively. The quarterback last year was ball control, was not a runner, very accurate and really just a completely different philosophy that they approach their team with now with a different type of player at the quarterback position,” said Tom Allen. “His name is Bryce Perkins and he's got our attention very quickly.”
Coach Allen’s defenses are built on two philosophies: force takeaways, and eliminate explosive plays. When given the chance, Bryce Perkins can exploit the latter philosophy and bust an explosive play. Indiana’s front seven will have to prevent this and is the key matchup to watch coming into week two’s game in the newly renovated Memorial Stadium.
