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CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL: FLORIDA VS VIRGINIADecember 30, 2019Hasise DuboisBronco MendenhallBryce PerkinsMiami Gardens, Florida Florida - 36, Virginia - 28 BRONCO MENDENHALL: Congratulations, first, to Dan Mullen and the Florida Gators on a hard-fought and competitive football game. I'm really proud of my team, the culture that we've established, the competitive spirit, the intensity and the camaraderie that's displayed from beginning to end. We're on a mission to just simply establish that you can have world-class academics and be at the top tier of college football, as well. That's what's happening at the University of Virginia. We were a few plays short today in our execution to win the game, but it was not because of a lack of belief or confidence or ability. I'm thankful to the senior class, those that came, most of whom I didn't select but honored their commitments when I came to the University of Virginia, that started with a 2-10 season and now find themselves on the verge and a great chance to have won the Orange Bowl and set a foundation, and I consider them a legacy class in terms of establishing what UVA football really is. I continue to be amazed and impressed by Bryce Perkins. Really proud of who Hasise has become, and I thought we played and made some adjustments in the second half that gave us a great chance until the very end of the football game. I couldn't be more proud of my team, my staff, and thankful for the support that we have received from President Ryan and his belief that, again, you can have world-class academics and exceptional football at the Power Five level, for Carla Williams and her support helping to add some of the things that allow us to be competitive at that level, and I'm very lucky to be the coach. Q. Bronco, it seems like maybe a little bit of a shaky start, the long touchdown run and then you guys settled in. Was it the stage? Was it something Florida was doing? What was behind that? BRONCO MENDENHALL: No, it certainly wasn't the stage. We slipped quite a bit early. Those aren't excuses. We had unblocked players that missed tackles, and credit athletic players from Florida for making us miss. We did make some execution adjustments, very few schematic adjustments, but it became clearer what had to happen on 1st and 2nd down especially, and then the key I thought for the scoring for Florida was 3rd and 4th down, our inability to get off the field the first half. We settled in over time, but we did give up some early scores before we did settle in, and sometimes that just happens with a good opponent after you haven't played for a couple weeks. Q. Bryce, even though this wasn't the result you wanted, can you reflect a little bit on your time here and what it meant to you to play this last game with this group of your teammates? BRYCE PERKINS: It meant the world, and not just what we did but how we did it, and thinking about all the years Coach Mendenhall has been here, and I was here for two of them, just how every year the unbroken growth of this team and the spirit and the bond of this team is unmatched. I mean, I was happy, and I am happy that Coach came all the way out to Arizona and recruited me. Didn't know what kind of culture I was getting into when the first call came, but to come out here with guys like Has and all the things that we've done together and the relationships that we've built, and you can see it on the field just how hard we fight for each other. And I'm not into moral victories because we lost the game, but I'm proud of these guys, proud of how we worked, and I'm proud of just the culture we set and the standard. When I first got here it was a new standard, but now it's the standard now for the guys coming up, and this program is transcending, and next year these guys are going to be a force to be reckoned with. You could kind of see a glimpse of it today. We don't take losing lightly, so we're definitely going to learn from it, and I'm proud to see what the future holds. Q. Bronco, like Bryce was saying and like you were saying a moment ago about culture, when you talk about trying to establish one, what he has done in 27 games, how important is that to what you're trying to develop with that culture? BRONCO MENDENHALL: There's two principles that I endorse and believe in. First is that culture precedes performance, and the second is who first and then what, and so we worked the prior two years before Bryce came, we were working so hard on just establishing what a culture of excellence looks like and raising expectations and raising hopes and establishing belief, and it became really clear after those two years that we needed a dynamic player and person to lead our team offensively and from the quarterback position. And who would have guessed, from Arizona Western and the University of Virginia that that matches, with a coach that came from Provo, Utah, to Virginia, and now we have this relationship. Bryce is the exact person we were hopeful to have lead our program, and I'm talking person first and then player second. It was and is the perfect fit. I couldn't have hoped for anything else. I wouldn't have wanted anything else or anybody else. I'm just grateful. Q. Bronco, Florida was one of the few teams this season that was able to contain Bryce running the football. What were they doing that allowed them to slow him down? BRONCO MENDENHALL: Florida played conservatively throughout the entire game, base zones with a small amount of mixture of pressure. They just have very good players. They have a good front seven, so they were relying just on four-man rush to play Bryce, and then working on just beating blocks and making tackles in the run game. So an athletic, defensive front with a relatively conservative coverage package is what they chose to do with very good players. Q. You guys got to break a lot of rocks this season, but you certainly set a rock solid precedent and standard for classes to come. Coach, if you could speak to the legacy of this group of players and summarize what they mean to this program. BRONCO MENDENHALL: Well, I think legacy is the right word. It was the word I used, I think, in the locker room. Hasise and I, man, we're not hardly even the same people that we started four years ago. I remember sitting in his home right when I was named head coach, and I don't think either one of us knew what we were getting in for. But who he's become, it just is every critical moment where a play has to be made or a ball has to be caught, there's Hasise, and he's usually not running by anybody, he's usually covered and there's the contested throws, the contested catches. It's how our team is. Nothing has come easy. We knew this game for us to win, it would come down to the last drive. That's how all of our games have been. And almost we replicated another one. Hasise I think is exemplary of the legacy type of player, person, but also the development. We consider ourselves a developmental program, and we take coaches and anyone that comes and hopefully can bring out the best versions of them with the right principles, and these two guys are great examples of that as well as the entire senior class, which I had them walk out behind the captains. I don't know how else to honor them. Anything I do doesn't seem to be quite enough, but they're amazing young people. Q. Bronco, you came in here in late September, I guess, with a healthy Bryce Hall and a healthy Jordan Mack. You gave up a lot of points today, but just talk about the way your defense hung in there. BRONCO MENDENHALL: I think they hung in very well, and I think especially in the second half they played as we would have hoped they played. Our two defensive captains certainly got hurt. We lost Brenton Nelson along the way, also, and others. But that's college football. The defensive unit today gave us a great chance all the way to an onside kick to win the game. We didn't, so it wasn't quite enough, but I was proud of their effort. Q. Bryce and Hasise, you guys hooked up on a pretty impressive catch early in the second quarter. Can you walk me through what you saw on that pass, and Hasise, tell me your side of it? BRYCE PERKINS: So I was just getting outside the pocket trying to make a play, and usually any time I'm outside the pocket I try to find Has, because, like coach said, his ability to catch the ball in traffic is unmatched and by far the best I've ever seen. So just getting outside, I saw the defender's back to me and saw Has, so I knew -- they're calling 50/50 balls in that situation and it's more like a 70/30, 80/20 (laughter), and we can look at the film to see if it goes higher than 80/20. But I knew that we had a great chance, and if I just put the ball in a location where Has could get a hand on it, just one, I knew more than likely he was going to come down with it. HASISE DUBOIS: Honestly from my point of view, before the play even happened, my position coach, Coach Hagans, he was like, before you go out there, just be ready for the scramble drill, and I mean, he hit it right on the mark because that's what happened. I was able to get a little separation. I was able to get Bryce's attention, and he put the ball where only I could get it. He said, like me, my ability to catch the ball like in traffic is unmatched, and I take big pride in that. As you see, it played out well for me to receive a touchdown on that play. Q. Hasise, they were both losses, but this one felt a lot different than the ACC Championship Game. Did the team have something to prove after the Clemson game? HASISE DUBOIS: I would say definitely. I feel as though we had a couple mistakes on our part in the ACC Championship Game. I feel as though they didn't beat us that bad, we made mistakes to beat ourselves. And I feel as though today, we came out with the intent that we weren't going to make any mistakes that would put us down, and the defense balled down, all of us balled down. We played our hardest. Unfortunately it didn't come out in our favor, so I'm very proud of the guys, I feel as though they played their hearts out, everybody, seniors all the way down to the freshmen that got into the game. I feel this group has grown from day one, regardless of the injuries or not. I feel as though, like Bryce said earlier, the next year's team is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Q. Bronco, have you ever been a part of a game late where you've got momentum and let's call them theatrical injuries maybe slowed your momentum down? Do you think that played a role in that drive that you guys had late? BRONCO MENDENHALL: Yeah, I don't really have a comment for that. Q. I don't know if you'll remember this, but it might have been your first spring game, Bronco, and you got a penalty at the end of the game -- BRONCO MENDENHALL: That's right, I remember that. Q. There was a lot of talk about your discipline and maturity. Can you take me through -- BRYCE PERKINS: I was there for that one. BRONCO MENDENHALL: Probably a long time ago. I can remember it but not much. He's totally different by now. Q. Can you tell me how you've developed and what it meant to you that this coaching staff stuck with you? HASISE DUBOIS: Honestly it meant a lot to me because like you said, it was the maturity part of my game I needed to elevate. The personal foul penalty in the spring game was literally uncalled for. It was just emotion, the offense being happy that we won the game. I did what I did, had accountability immediately, so that's our program, like accountability is immediate, and I feel as though the whole situation helped me grow into the person I am today because all of that was unneeded, and I mean, haven't gotten another one, though, since that day, and I've been able to play with a chip on my shoulder just because of that. I feel as all of that helped build my confidence, helped build the motivation, helped build the maturity, as well, which is a big thing. And like Coach said, it turned out for the better, and I'm glad he was able to stick with me and I'm glad he believed in me, so I appreciate that. BRONCO MENDENHALL: You caught a touchdown, though, before that, right? HASISE DUBOIS: Yeah, that was the game-winning touchdown in the spring game. Q. Bronco, how critical were the two 4th-down calls and how gutsy were those by Dan? BRONCO MENDENHALL: Yeah, any time they work, it's good. I think both teams were calling the game to win, and so not only did he call it but their team executed well enough to pull that off. I think one of them was a 4th-and-9 if I remember correctly, 4th-and-8. That was a huge play. Q. Going back to the touchdown on Bryce's scramble and then Hasise's touchdown reception, what was your reaction to that play? BRONCO MENDENHALL: You know, on the headset there's basically just one thing that was being said, throw it to Has, throw it to Has, throw it to Has, throw it to Has. He didn't look open, but to us he's open. So the 50/50 or 80/20 balls, or 85/15 balls that these two -- yeah, it didn't surprise any of us. It just seems like when there's a contested throw, Hasise comes down with it, and especially what we call the blue zone is where he thrives. But you saw plenty of other catches. Yeah, it's always difficult to imagine your team without the seniors or without these two guys. It's hard to imagine. But it is possible, and the example and the stage -- or the mark they've set is exactly the mark that we need to squeeze even more air out of this program and what's possible, and so they -- they have an amazing chemistry, and the production is going to be hard to replace. Q. Bryce, where do you think you grew the most over two years at Virginia? BRYCE PERKINS: Oh, man. I think overall as a passer, I've grown a lot more as far as seeing and the mental game. If I had to pinpoint one thing that helped me become a better passer from this year to last year and then all the years before, I think I'm a smarter player as far as recognizing the scene. Spending the off-season in the film room and then also with these guys has allowed me to elevate my game to do more. And all the work that we put in in the off-season has allowed me to see and recognize coverages and blitzes and different things I wasn't seeing last year as much. So I think if I had to pinpoint one thing, that was definitely the area of my game that I improved the most. Q. Bronco, you ran into a very balanced offense tonight in Florida. How does Virginia get to a point where it can be more balanced against top-10 competition? BRONCO MENDENHALL: Back to the point, it's who first and then what. And so as we look to find -- I can't say to find the next Bryce Perkins, so as we look to have the player at quarterback, we then look to supplement that with the player at running back, and we then have to supplement that with the players at wide receiver, and this year it was much more quarterback and receiver, but we were still looking for the exact right fit to have that presence at running back, and our offensive line grew and developed I think at a remarkable level with a lot of work from being poor to average to being good, even though Florida made us pay a few times today, and that whole group comes back. The presence of who we have at the running back position, besides just the consistency, the dynamic nature of who it is, we'll need to keep working on that, as well. And we'll make the most of who and what we have and tailor our systems around that until we find the exact right mix. It takes time. And I think we're showing that it's fairly rapid what's happening. Not all the pieces are in place, but many of them are coming together and allowing us to show, I think, pretty steady improvement. Last thing, I should have said this to begin with. The Orange Bowl experience was amazing. We were treated exceptionally well, and just first-class in every way. I should have said that at the beginning, so thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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