One more game until a much-needed bye week. After a great win at Elon, it’s hard to imagine the Spiders won’t be peaking ahead to what the schedule holds in the next two weeks. I’m hoping we can start strong, quickly put this A&T team behind us, get some rest, and get ready for a final CAA clash with the Blue Hens.

North Carolina A&T Aggies

Another tough season for the Aggies in 2024, starting 1-4 after finishing 1-10 in 2023. Their only win has come against D-II Winston Salem… in overtime. No signs of a turnaround in year 2 under Vincent Brown, although the offense has made some strides. When these teams faced off last season, A&T hadn’t thrown for 100 yards in a game, yet they now average 185 YPG. They’ve played two quarterbacks and still aren’t putting up a ton of points, but it’s an improvement. What hasn’t improved is the defense. This could be a field day for the Spiders’ offense, as we should be able to attack their defense without much resistance.

Betting

Second game in three weeks where the Spiders will be more than three TD favorites. Line should be in the -24 range, with an O/U around 50. Projected score of 37-13 and based on A&Ts defense the past few weeks it wouldn’t be crazy for UR to eclipse the 40-point mark.

Spiders on Offense

North Carolina A&T has the worst defense in the CAA. Most points allowed, most yards allowed, most passing yards allowed, worst 3rd down defense. This team gave us some problems last year in the midst of our QB shuffle, but 2024 hasn’t seen them build on that. A clean game from the Spiders should see us put up points throughout the day.

Redzone – Richmond has been spotty in the redzone the past two games – a turnover against Delaware State and only one TD in three trips down at Elon. Four TDs the last seven possessions is by no means bad, but it’s definitely made games a little closer than they’ve needed to be. The Spiders are 27th in overall redzone scoring, but 64th in TD % – some ground to be made up there.

On the flip side, North Carolina A&T allows TDs on 80% of opponent redzone trips, which is impressively bad. That ranks in the bottom 5 of all FCS teams and comes at a great time for this UR offense. We were pretty conservative last week so I’m hoping we’re much more aggressive in a favorable matchup.

Middle of the field – Typically the passing chart focuses on the depth of passes, but this breakdown is on the direction. Below are Cam Coleman’s two starts combined:

Favoring the right side is always expected however under 20% of passes being to the middle of the field stands out. Our receivers have been outstanding in winning matchups outside but I’m wondering if this is an area we can utilize more. Unlikely many defenders can stick with DeGennaro in space over the middle and I’d love to get Robbert more involved here. With just eight receptions on the season, it’s hard to imagine there isn’t a bigger role for him in this passing game. As linebackers get more keyed into our strong running game, finding those holes over the middle should be easier for Coleman and should make this offense even harder to defend.

How will the Spiders attack A&T? – Any way they want is the truthful answer. Nothing has worked for this Aggie defense so far, allowing 43 PPG – a number that jumps to 51 PPG in their three FCS matchups. In theory we should be running the ball at will against this team, so how we manage the run/pass balance will be interesting.

NC A&T allows 174 YPG on the ground at 5 YPC, and you know our O-line is licking their chops seeing those numbers. ZPS is too, as he looks to continue his 100-yard game streak. Opponents have rushed for 150+ yards in all five games against A&T, so UR shouldn’t have any issues getting near their 200 YPG average once again.

The Aggies also allow opponents to throw for over 300 YPG, at a whopping 9 YPA. Hard to have Coleman finding his groove and not let him throw it 25+ times against a vulnerable secondary, especially in terms of big plays. The past three games NC A&T has allowed 18 passing plays of 20+ yards. If the Spiders can start fast we might not need too many explosive plays through the air, but I’d still expect a few fireworks after a relatively calm game at Elon.

If we do stay ground focused, will ZPS share more of the load? I know he’s loving the 70 carries that have come his way the last three weeks but it’s a great spot to get King, Brown, and Foster-Powell more touches. Similar to what I’ll talk about on defense, if all goes to plan this might be a game the carries get shared among three or four guys.

Spiders on Defense

A&T has a QB injury of their own, with Kevin White going down against NC Central. Justin Fomby has filled in with more success the past couple of weeks, although neither defense he’s faced is at our level.

Turnovers – Plenty of discussions surrounding turnovers this past week, and A&T is a great matchup to sustain that trend. The Aggies have turned the ball over 10 times the past three games (5 INTs, 5 fumbles). We’ve seen what forcing turnovers can do for our defense and I’m sure they’ll have their chances again this weekend. Reigniting that turnover mindset will be key ahead of big October/November matchups and takes pressure off other areas.

Secondary – Fomby is only completing 50% of his passes in 75 attempts, with four INTs in just a handful of games. No Bryson Parker on the 2-deep again this week, so we’ll have another game with a different looking 4-2-5. Stocker will presumably be the 5th DB, with Chance Graves likely to play more boundary corner. Stringing two solid games together before the bye week could go a long way for a position group still having roles shuffle into October. More importantly, it would generate a lot of confidence before Delaware (and yes, I am peeking ahead).

Delaware is on the horizon and they’re bringing a partial FBS roster and high-level CAA passing attack. We need to beat A&T for obvious reasons, however the experience and success from a game like this could perfectly extend into our biggest non-W&M game of the year in two Saturdays. On paper, the timing of tomorrow’s game and the bye week seems to be perfect.

Younger Spiders – Plenty of youth on this defense, and due to the injury situation, that youth continues to find its way onto the 2-deep.

• Safety – The Spiders are thin at safety, there’s no other way to put it. Jordan Allen now finds himself working at both safety and linebacker. The other backup is true freshman Lee Bruner IV, with true freshman Amir Haskett hopefully returning soon. Traynor has played great, but every game is incredibly valuable to such an inexperienced group.
• Linebacker – Quantraill Morris-Walker is on the 2-deep, so ideally he’s fully back. True freshman Peyton Seelmann has plenty of snaps so far, as between him and Jordan Allen last game it was more youth than we’ve seen in recent years at linebacker.
• Defensive line – TJ Baldwin posted about a successful surgery online and is no longer on the 2-deep. That results in true freshman Braxton Lassiter finding his way into the rotation, along with overnight sensation Jamar Hodges. Hodges is now DE #3, with only true freshman Daniel Sellers behind him (barring a position change).

I didn’t even get to mention our latest CAA defensive player of the week, as redshirt freshman CJ Fraser has come on strong even with corner being a healthy position.

The takeaway is that this game potentially comes at the perfect time. It’s all dependent on the Spiders starting well, but we could really get some newer guys some valuable snaps, while letting our experienced defensive linemen get some rest. Coach Huesman chuckled in this week’s post-practice interview when discussing the defensive tackles, saying, “Fitz and Stock… probably need to bow it up man.” They will indeed, as will Jeremiah Grant, but a lighter load tomorrow coupled with the bye week could have the veterans in a great spot for a November run.

Special Teams

A wild first five games for the Aggies’ special teams. Both allowing and forcing two blocked kicks, returning a kickoff 100 yards for a TD, but also allowing a 73-yard punt return TD. Richmond will need to avoid allowing a big play, while having a chance to create one of our own.

Take away the 100-yard kickoff return TD, and they average less than 16 yards/return. Our KOC unit remains top 3 in the CAA so I’m not expecting problems here. On punt, they only average 34 yards/punt and give up 13 yards/return. A lot of this will depend on DeGennaro being back there, as we haven’t seemed too interested in fielding punts with #11 on the sidelines.

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Game 6 – 2024: North Carolina A&T recap – Monday, October 7th