Anytime your defense outscores your offense it’s bound to be an interesting game. The Spiders didn’t do anything to shake the notion that the level of our opponent influences our play, however a strong defensive effort allowed us to play this one conservatively and be just fine. Definitely some areas that didn’t look great but if we had to have a letdown week, this was the one.

Drives

1st half drives on the left, 2nd half drives on the right

Offense

9 drives – 4 punts (45%), 3 FG attempts (33%), 1 TD (11%), 1 turnover (11%)

I can’t honestly tell you what that was, but man did it feel a lot like Morgan State all over again. First drive TD, and then nothing. The offense looked different, the QB rotations were beyond confusing, and we took our foot off the pedal early on. We were afforded the opportunity to do all those things and still grab a comfortable win, but that performance on Saturday won’t beat any of the remaining teams on our schedule.

Running game – Let’s start with some good – the Spiders ran the ball pretty well for a second straight week. Still seeing Savon do a nice job outside the tackles and we’re much more balanced in our schemes. Thought the tight ends picked up a few key blocks on some bigger runs and we looked good using more 12 (1 RB, 2 TE) personnel. Right side continues to be our best side to run towards and we still haven’t played a team that can tackle Wickersham. Lots of QB powers and draws from him again this weekend, as we’re still holding the big play over the top in our bag of tricks.

Quanye Veney – Nice to see some production from the slot, as Veney had four catches on six targets. No one had a big yardage day but I’m glad we got a few others involved. Isaiah Wilson lined up in the slot plenty in the 1st half but it was mostly Veney towards the end. Still feels a little strange with how we’re rotating receivers, as besides DeGennaro and Ellis there are a lot of guys going in and out. We’ve done well in trying to get the ball to Garcia Jr. in space and I’m hoping we can find him more in the passing game.

Camden Coleman – Now we arrive at the difficult part of Saturday. I hope you didn’t place any futures bets on Coleman to win the Jerry Rice Award because you’re likely about to be disappointed. I do want to preface this with the fact that I have no inside knowledge on this – purely speculation, but it’s hard to imagine this isn’t how this plays out. It seemed to me that Coleman didn’t play the 2nd half because he’s done for the year. #14 has now played in four games, and rather than burn his redshirt we will keep it intact and go with Wickersham moving forward. I just don’t see any other reason he wouldn’t get a snap in the 2nd half. He was healthy, and one 1st half interception didn’t suddenly put him on the bench for good.

Everyone will have an opinion on this, and rightfully so. The Spiders find themselves back in the playoff hunt and the CAA title race, so removing an option at QB will no doubt raise a few eyebrows. If it does end up playing out this way there’s a lot of perspectives to consider. The recruiting process happens over years. Plenty of things are discussed and redshirting is almost always one of those. If the plan was to redshirt Coleman all along and your QB1 from the opening game is back, it’s reasonable to honor that commitment and stick to that schedule.

The “fan” side of the argument says nothing is guaranteed. Richmond fans will remember when Kevin Johnson, who had redshirted the entire regular season, burned his redshirt the opening round of the playoffs (after Lauletta got hurt) and led the Spiders to two victories in 2016, including an upset win @ #7 North Dakota. Why? Because you never know when you’ll get back – and ironically enough Johnson never made the FCS playoffs again. The situations aren’t identical – UR had already qualified for the playoffs in 2016, while this year’s Spiders are still three games away – however the Johnson example is likely to surface so for those that didn’t know it I wanted to bring it up.

One thing we can all agree on is that flip-flopping them during the same drive ain’t the answer. Using Wickersham in the redzone is fine, but having Wickersham run a 1st down play and then bringing Coleman in for a 2nd & long is a dead giveaway. We only saw that on one drive as I’d imagine the staff quickly realized that wasn’t going to benefit anyone. No matter how this plays out the bigger concern isn’t what we CAN do with Wickersham, it’s what we are WILLING to let him do.

Kyle Wickersham – Another superefficient day for #16, but with little numbers to show for it. 7/9 passing keeps his completion percentage above 75%, yet under 4 YPA passing brings back all the concerns we had in September. What he brings on the ground continues to shine each week but a zero TD 2nd half won’t get too many excited. Typically you walk away from a game like that saying “we’ve got more questions than answers,” however I think we got a clear indication of what’s happening on offense. Here is his passing chart, with a * being an attempt that didn’t count in the box score due to penalty. Still worth tracking in my opinion:

It doesn’t just feel like we’ve got two different offensive styles with Coleman & Wickersham, it feels like two entirely different playbooks. The game plan will never look the same for each guy due to their strengths, however the stark contrast in how we distribute the ball around the field is what has me most confused. Without the free plays or penalties we let him throw it more than 5 yards downfield once. Everything is near or outside the numbers, there’s much less creativity, and we scarcely utilize the middle of the field.

I’m sure our opponent, and comfortable lead, played a factor in calling a more mundane 2nd half, however this is where most objections will stem from. We’ve seen the play calling let Coleman throw it around the field, while we haven’t gotten to see that from Wickersham. The little we did see it against Delaware State was very successful, so for me this is more about opportunity and less about ability. If we turn Wickersham loose against Campbell then most doubts will be alleviated. If we see a game called like Morgan State or the 2nd half of A&T? Cause for concern. Assuming #16 is QB1 this upcoming weekend, there will be no bigger factor in the game than how we approach our offensive game plan.

Defense

12 drives – 5 punts (41%), 3 turnovers (25%), 2 turnovers on downs (17%), 2 FG attempts (17%)

My preview on the defensive side for this game was short and the recap will be even quicker. Can’t argue with a zero TD day for the opposition, and the Aggie offense never threatened. One busted play at the end of the 1st half gave them 3 points, otherwise it was a relatively boring day for a simply superior UR defense. I don’t think we learned anything new so sometimes you just take a in-season “bye week” and move on.

Turnovers – Richmond is now tied for first in all the FCS in turnovers forced at 20 (12 INTs, 8 fumbles recovered). Some of this goes to special teams but it’s mainly a defensive stat. The Spiders forced four on Saturday, with two interceptions being returned for TDs. Stocker and Hayes both have three this season, which is amazing considering neither was a week 1 starter.

Special Teams

The blocked punt for a TD saved what was otherwise a below-average day for the Spiders. Kicking wasn’t our best, snapping wasn’t our best, and issues in punt return and kickoff-coverage areas reappeared. If one of those things happened we wouldn’t think too much of it, but when they all happen in the same game it feels a lot worse. Our kicking operation has been solid this year so I’ll just chalk that up to a one game thing. The muffed punt (third this season) felt like Savon trying to do too much again. Does a third muff mean we move to someone else? I’d guess no but we’ll wait and see.

The kickoff coverage started with a kickoff out-of-bounds and only got worse. The Aggies were known for their kickoff return ability and Taymon Cooke sure showed it, taking one 91 yards to the house for his 3rd TD this season. We then resorted to squibbing the ball, but two squibs gave them starting field position of their own 39 and the +45 yard line. Plenty to clean up there.

The blocked punt returned for a TD was a refreshing site, something we don’t see often. I thought 2009 was the last blocked punt TD we had but that was the second latest, as Ben Edwards did it against VMI in 2011. Easy to focus on the negatives that happened Saturday but equally important to highlight the excellent play from Trey Mancuso and Quintarius Jefferies.

Next Post

Campbell preview (Friday morning)