Remind me which of those teams is moving to the FBS next season? Richmond had the more complete roster and it showed this past Saturday. The Spiders dominated Delaware in all aspects of a game that was never close, making a huge statement to the rest of the league. The winning streak is up to five, and this team now finds themselves squarely in the playoff picture despite an 0-2 start.

Drives

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

Offense

10 drives | 67 snaps – 5 punts (50%), 4 TDs (40%), 1 turnover on downs (10%)

A complete 180 from recent weeks, yet not shocking at all. We all knew we had this. We saw it last season, we’ve seen small glimpses of it this year, it was just a matter of committing to an aggressive approach. To me, that’s been the strangest part of the last few weeks – it hasn’t been questions about personnel, it’s just a matter of if and how we’ll use it, and the offense left no doubts in the 1st half over the weekend. We showed our talent at WR, we let Coleman be the best version of himself, and the O-line held strong for four quarters.

Cam Coleman – For the second straight season, Richmond has now officially failed to redshirt Coleman. Thankfully that’s about the only part of the offense that “failed” this week, as with #14 at QB1 moving forward these guys made a huge statement exiting the bye week. His 1st half numbers were all the offense needed, going 14/18 for 172 yards and two TDs.

60% of passes in the deeper zones, great use of the middle of the field, and got all of his weapons involved during the day. He got both DeGennaro and Griffin (7 targets each) involved early and didn’t turn the ball over for the third straight game. As we move into November it’s great news that he’s improving with each week.

His 59-yard run showed another gear that I didn’t think he had. He looked fine on some prior runs, but for him to pull away and outpace the Delaware secondary was impressive. I still won’t be advocating for him to be running inside too often, and it will never be the same as Wickersham, but the fact that we still have that wrinkle available to us is a big plus.

Fast start – Look what happens when you start quickly, set the tone, and make the other team play from behind. The Spiders were one play away from two 1st quarter TDs, and ultimately scored TDs on four of the first five drives. Delaware hadn’t played from behind much this season and it was fun watching us pour it on early.

Play calling – I think it’s pretty clear that October is a high level play caller, it’s just a matter of letting him do it. When he’s turned loose this offense attacks all levels of the defense and finds a great run/pass balance. When the clamps get put on him, things are starkly different. The 1st half felt like 100% Winston October, the 2nd half felt like 0% Winston October. Three things stood out to me from his 1st half play calling:

– 1st down: Really nice job of getting Coleman settled in. Richmond ran 19 1st down plays in the 1st half – 11 runs, 8 passes. Some screens, some vertical shots, all while keeping ZPS involved. Once Coleman got in a groove with some of his top threats there was nothing the Blue Hens could do to stop us.

– Run/pass balance: The solid balance wasn’t only on 1st down. Richmond ran 36 1st half plays in total – 16 runs, 20 passes. I love ZPS getting 100+ yards but I’m going to maintain that the best version of this offense involves the passing game setting up the run. We really kept the defense on their heels by throwing it on 10 of 14 2nd downs, which led to us only facing three 3rd downs in the 1st half.

– Creativity: The overly simplistic UR offense was nowhere to be found in the first 30 minutes. It’s easy to be happy when an offense has success, but in re-watching the game we saw some concepts and designs that we hadn’t seen since late 2023. The bunch vertical concept to get DeGennaro wide open in the end zone (along with actually letting Coleman throw the ball in the redzone), the RPO to get Robbert in space on the edge, and the QB read to add yet another wrinkle to our short yardage ground game. Great execution, but an even better game plan from Coach October.

2nd half offense – And then the Spiders disappeared. There’s taking the air out of the ball and then there’s simply never scoring again. You could feel the play sheet being taken out of October’s hands and it yielded the typical results – our three 3rd quarter drives resulted in three punts, amassing just 24 yards. I don’t think we entirely put the brakes on that early, but there definitely was a different feel. There’s always a balance when you have a three-score lead, and the holding the ball for 12:29 in the 4th quarter didn’t give them a chance for a comeback, however you could hear the groans from the fans about us turning to that approach too quickly. Let’s hope how we manage three-score halftime leads continues to be a “problem” we face down the road.

Offensive line – Solid work from the five up front. Three sacks allowed doesn’t look great on paper but with passing attempts increasing, along with Coleman still holding the ball a little too long, it was a strong performance. Delaware doesn’t run a conventional looking defense, yet there seemed to be no communication problems regarding the variety of blitzes the Blue Hens brought. Credit to Elia there, who alongside Salyers had the best rated games of our O-linemen, and credit to ZPS for strong support in pass protection.

The running game was slow at the start, but we eventually wore down the Blue Hens by the 2nd half. To me it showed this unit is ready to win any style of game we might need to play – expecting ZPS to hit 150+ yards every game isn’t reasonable once you start facing better competition, so I really felt Saturday was a strong statement by this group.

Redzone – Three TDs in four trips, with our only failure being the final drive of the game. The first three redzone trips saw the Spiders throw it three times and run it four, with DeGennaro, Griffin, and Robbert all getting targets. Really pleased we didn’t take the ball out of Coleman’s hands, mixed up the looks, and unsurprisingly it translated to points.

Defense

10 drives | 73 snaps – 6 turnovers [4 on downs] (60%), 2 punts (20%), 1 TD (10%), 1 FG (10%)

Secondary rises to the occasion – A near repeat of 2022, with the Spiders playing their best game in the biggest moment. Delaware took plenty of shots down the field but more often than not the Spiders were right where they needed to be.

Marker had a sub-50% completion rate, and only completed 37% of his passes in the intermediate/deep zones. We tightened some things up over the middle during the bye week and were in much better position throughout the game. They still threw for 288 yards but that’s going to happen when they put it up 47 times. I thought Trae Tomlinson was superb, with two passes defended and in great position throughout. Chance Graves added another, and QMW iced the game with an INT. Spectacular coverage all around.

Defensive line – Four sacks, five TFLs, six QB hurries, and a key forced fumble on 4th down. The Blue Hens had been solid up front while the Spiders came in thin, yet our front owned the line of scrimmage all day. Throw in holding UD to 36 yards rushing and a neutral fan would not have known which squad had the FBS sized roster.

Special shoutout for Cam Byrd, playing 100% of the snaps for the second straight game. He finished with 1.5 sacks, a QB hurry, and a deflection at the line of scrimmage. #96 has filled the void left by Hoilette and it has really helped stabilize the defensive end position. I was pleasantly surprised with how often Hodges was in the game, as both he and McMillan are starting to see increased roles. We’re probably a little higher on starter snap counts than we’d like to be but that was always going to happen after the injuries we’ve suffered. Given our current personnel, I’d say we couldn’t be in a better spot up front.

Jordan Allen – Prior to the Elon game, Jordan Allen had 12 career collegiate snaps. Three games later and he has 148. Once QMW went down a few weeks ago Allen stepped in and filled his role well, however that isn’t the only spot Allen is a reserve at. With the Spiders thin at safety, Allen is the also the first safety off the bench, and was called upon after Jabril Hayes left the game in the 2nd quarter and didn’t return. The versatility to play both linebacker and safety is unique and very much needed right now. After Allen we only have true freshmen at the safety spot, so while we need Hayes back for the Bryant game it’s been awesome to watch a younger Spider step in and play two different defensive positions at a very high level.

3rd/4th down – Spiders’ defense won both 3rd and 4th down. Holding UD to 33% on 3rd down and forcing them to go 1/5 on 4th down. I thought one 4th down stop might be pivotal in this game however it was all five in the aggregate, as Delaware’s one conversion ended with a UR fumble recovery. With our sluggish 2nd half offense that game could’ve gotten a lot tighter with a few 4th down conversions, but the unrelenting UR defense didn’t let it happen. Our preparation and execution coming out of the bye week was outstanding and it showed in big spots.

Special Teams

An uncharacteristic 27-yard punt return allowed by the Spiders, however Trusler still had a good day. He couldn’t get that one bounce he needed inside the 20, with three punts going for touchbacks. Uneventful outside of that, as the special teams as a whole remains steady.

FCS/CAA standings

Welcome back to the driver’s seat. 5-2, 3-0 in the CAA, with a top 15 ranking on the horizon. Proud of how this group has fought back for the second straight season. Only eight playoff eligible teams have one loss or less across the FCS, with a huge group of ranked & bubble teams sitting in the two-loss category. In classic CAA fashion, Richmond only plays two of the top 7 teams shown below. With that, the next month won’t be about picking up quality wins or knocking out other contenders – it will be about holding serve and ensuring we’re at nine wins by the time the Tribe come to town.

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Game 8 -2024: Bryant preview – Friday, October 25th