Sometimes it just isn’t your day. Albany asserted its dominance from the opening drive and the Spiders weren’t able to counter. A disappointing end to an unexpectedly wild season but this Richmond team continued the momentum from 2022 and is in a good spot entering 2024.

Drives

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

Offense

12 drives – 5 punts (42%), 4 turnovers [1 on downs] (34%), 2 TDs (16%), 1 FG attempt (8%)

This one was over quickly, as it was evident from the first few drives that we couldn’t handle them up front. The pick-6 put it us in a spot we weren’t getting out of but even before then it was an uphill climb.

Missed chance early – Both teams went 3 & out to start, then the Spiders followed with a 14-play, 74-yard drive. In that drive were 42 Albany penalty yards, yet the Spiders came away with 0 points after a missed field goal. You can’t go beat #5 on the road and not score there. Quite frankly you’ve got to get a TD, as the offense worked too hard that possession to come up empty handed. I talked about having a better 1st quarter and UR missed a golden opportunity to take a 7-0 lead.

Red zone – Richmond scored on only 2 of 4 redzone chances, while Albany went 5/5. Another way to ensure you don’t beat #5 on the road is failing to convert in this area, and 2/4 won’t cut it. The missed chance early hurt, as did our first drive in the 2nd half. We were already down 20, but after the Bryson Parker INT we had 1st & Goal and a chance to make it a two-score game with a lot of time left. 4 plays, no touchdown, and effectively the final blow.

Line of Scrimmage – Saturday started with a sack and didn’t get much better. We tried to establish the run early but there was simply no room. 38 yards on 39 carries leaves a lot to be desired, and even if you remove the five sacks we still finished under 2 yards/carry. Handling their pass rush was difficult as well, as they tallied five sacks, nine TFLs, and 10 QB hurries. They didn’t have to blitz to disrupt our timing and it allowed them to sit in coverage and make working the ball downfield difficult.

Nick DeGennaro – A true warrior. He’s the guy you want on your team no matter what and he continually shows it with his passion and performance on the field. 13 catches on 15 targets, 120 yards, and a TD. The TD was his 11th of the season, tying the record set by Brian Brown (UR’s all-time leading receiver) and Walker Gillette (a 1st round NFL draft pick). He’s played fantastic no matter who is at QB and I hope he remains the focal point on this unit going forward.

Cam Coleman – We managed to go almost five weeks without a QB conversation, but it’s only fitting this re-emerges to cap off 2023. The true freshman stepped in and played great despite no 1st team reps in weeks. Granted, he did have a slightly easier task, as Albany had backed off and was playing more conservative in the 4th quarter, but the spark he provided at the end of the 1st half and into the 3rd quarter was significant. This position group will likely dominate the offseason conversation, so I’ll leave this alone for now.

Defense

10 drives – 5 TDs (50%), 4 punts (40%), 1 INT (10%)

Won’t win many playoff games giving up TDs on 50% of your possessions. They did just about anything they wanted on offense and although we tightened things up as the game went on, the early scoring frenzy was tough to watch.

Line of scrimmage – Albany ran it too well early on, which was an ominous yet accurate indicator of how the day would go. 141 yards on the ground, 5.6 yards/carry, and Poffenbarger was very mobile throughout the game. If we were going to slow this offense down it started up front but unfortunately that never happened. Only two sacks and four TFLs on the day weren’t enough, especially against a team who had shown they were susceptible to getting beat on the line of scrimmage. The Poffenbarger “forward fumble turned TD” was a ridiculously lucky break for Albany but he did plenty of damage outside of the pocket before that. They had a great game plan for attacking us and beat us in their execution.

Tristan Wheeler – 12 tackles, a sack, and a QB hurry in his final game as a Spider. The result wasn’t fitting but his individual performance absolutely was. On a day where the Spiders didn’t tackle too well #30 had a great outing, and unfortunately all the focus turns towards figuring out how to replace him.

If the UR games notes are correct, this was Wheeler’s 50th consecutive start, meaning the last time he didn’t start a game for UR was September 14th, 2019 against Elon. Hard to grasp how long ago that was and it may go down as his most impressive stat in his time at UR. Since tampering is 100% legal on this site 🙂 , let’s hope there’s another Wheeler that may set his own streak in the near future.

Coverage – It was better than W&M and NC Central, but 14.2 yards/completion isn’t the formula to beating Albany. Holding them to 170 in the air and a 52% completion rate is solid however the Great Danes still were able to find too many guys open down the field. Poffenbarger definitely put some throws out there for us to take but he also made some excellent passes. That’s a dangerous team when he’s playing well and sadly we got him on a really strong day. The improvement was good to see but this area will be a focus moving forward as we try and improve even further.

Bryson Parker – A really strong game from #4. Three tackles, an INT, and two deflections helped keep the Spiders in this one. It was one of our best games from a safety this season and no doubt Parker remains a focal point of that group heading into 2024. Without his strong play, Albany would’ve had a few more big scoring plays so it was great to see a more veteran guy step up in a big moment.

Special Teams

UR had the advantage in kickoff returns and we showed it – 26 yards/return on five returns by Milan Howard was outstanding. We didn’t capitalize too often but the special teams turnaround on both KOR and KOC can’t be overstated.

Protection was disappointing, with Albany blocking a PAT and getting a hand on a punt. They had great length and athleticism and it really showed in all three phases. Overall the offensive progress from September until December will get talked about the most but all of our special teams units had a much stronger 2023 than anticipated. Another positive heading into 2024.

Moving Forward

Really the takeaway from Saturday was that there’s a top tier in the CAA and right now we aren’t in it. Now, we’re clearly just one step below, but that was a level of physicality up front that we couldn’t match on either side of the ball. Nothing else we did mattered with the way they won up front. I think it’s a great barometer of where things stand and a great building block moving forward. We were building to this for a few years in 2020/2021, and 2022 and 2023 broke through and got this program back where it belongs – competing for CAA championships, making the playoffs, and winning playoff games.

The fact that two straight W&M games were CAA title games for us is significant, as is playing into December for two straight seasons. If we want to get back to the quarterfinals and beyond (last appearance was 2016) there’s another level we need to reach and we saw it firsthand in Albany. It’s important that we’ve returned to the level of a consistent playoff team, however now we’ve got to take that next step.

Next Post

Brace for impact. Not really, but the days following elimination are where you’ll get most of your transfer portal entries. The portal officially opened this morning so this week will be interesting to monitor. We’ll have guys enter every year, thus is the natural of college football these days. Obviously hoping the effects are minimal and definitely wishing best of luck to any guys moving on.

I’m thinking my next post will be in a week or two, likely a season recap and a portal update.

Thank you

Lastly, thank you all again for another great season of Richmond football. I appreciate discussing the game with everyone and always enjoy connecting during home/road games. I know Richmond is small fanbase but it’s awesome to see people passionate about this team and program, no matter the outcomes.

Things are slower out of season but with recruiting, transfers, spring ball, etc. my goal is to keep the updates consistent but not too frequent for the offseason. I’m always interested in hearing people’s thoughts – curious about a stat or trend I haven’t talked about? Think what I write is dumb? Want to see a different style moving forward? Always open to feedback and always looking for ways to reach even more UR alumni & fans. I know the message boards can get out of hand so hoping this is a place that’s easier to enjoy and share with others that you know. Thank you again and Go Spiders!