The Spiders make a statement in our CAA finale, blanking the Tribe 27-0 to wrap up an undefeated CAA season and earn the #9 seed in the 2024 playoffs. This group saved the best for last and will be dangerous if we can continue this level of play into December.

Drives

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

Offense

64 snaps | 7 drives – 3 TDs (43%), 2 FGs (29%), 1 punt (14%), 1 turnover (14%)

Run to win – Sometimes you don’t need to throw it. Richmond had success the entire game on the ground, rushing for 238 yards on 50 carries. We ran it a ton on 1st down, but why not when we’re grabbing 4.8 YPC. Coleman continued to display his ability to run both inside and outside of the tackles, tallying 73 yards and two goal line TDs.

Plenty of credit goes to the O-line, with UR using seven different linemen. I expected us to dominate the line of scrimmage on offense but that was another level. The Tribe had no answers up front and it led to a 16-play drive and 13-play drive in the 2nd half. Hummel and Gouveia roughly split the snaps at guard, as we’re in the best spot we’ve been all season heading into the playoffs.

The star of the show was ZPS, running for 129 yards and a TD. That was his fifth 100-yard game of the regular season, and he’s currently right at Jacobi Green’s pace from 2015. Through 12 games, Green had 1,240 yards while ZPS has 1,275. Green had 15 TDs at this point, while ZPS currently has 13. Pretty incredible to see Palmer-Smith mirror Green’s amazing 2015 season and we know we’ll need more of that throughout the playoffs.

Possessions – Low possession count two weeks in a row, with the offense only getting the ball for seven full drives. We were efficient again, scoring on five of those seven drives, so while we didn’t hit the 30-point mark it was a very productive day. The Spiders dominated the clock, holding the ball for over 21 minutes in the 2nd half. We stayed on schedule (average yards-to-go on 3rd down was 5.4) and ran 63% of our plays from W&M’s side of the field.

Cam Coleman – Coleman orchestrates an 8-0 CAA season for UR, which I didn’t have on my 2024 bingo card. We didn’t need his arm very often in this one, but he made some nice 3rd down throws in big spots. Coleman was only 9/14 passing on the day, however he was 6/7 on 3rd down, with the only incompletion being Garcia Jr.’s drop. He found Veney a couple times and even got Robbert involved over the middle. Richmond converted 64% of 3rd downs which never gave W&M a chance to get back into this one.

Redzone – I’m too pessimistic to not find something I didn’t like. 3/4 on redzone TDs but that’s thanks to a senseless roughing the kicker by the Tribe. Should’ve been 2/4 with another short yardage failure. I liked the QB-follow we ran multiple times with Coleman, but when they stopped that we didn’t have anywhere else to turn.

Defense

50 snaps | 8 drives – 4 punts (50%), 3 turnovers [2 on downs] (38%), 1 FG attempt (12%)

“Unbelievable.” Coach Huesman must’ve said this eight times in his post-game interview and there’s nothing I can add. That defensive effort was truly unbelievable, and it turned what was supposed to be an intense rivalry game into us putting the Tribe out of their misery in just 2 1/2 hours.

Defensive line – Two days later and I’m still shocked. I thought the battle would be holding them under 200 yards, as I never dreamed they would finish with just 64 yards on 29 attempts. The trio of Yoder/Imoh/Wilson came in combining for over 200 YPG, but all fell significantly short of their season averages against the Spiders.

They key to shutting down a run-first team is winning the early downs, and our defensive line won 1st down the entire afternoon. The Tribe ran for just 2 YPC on 1st down, getting them off schedule and forcing their offense to play a game they aren’t comfortable with. That led to pressure from our front-7, generating three sacks and six QB hurries. Darius Wilson looked uncomfortable in the pocket and you could tell this Tribe O-line was no match for what the Spiders had up front.

Snap count – Nine of the 11 defensive starters played the entire game. I’m running out of things to say about their durability, as every time I think we’re starting to wear down they find another level. The only two that didn’t play 100% of the snaps were Matei Fitz, who missed one play when his helmet came off, and Carsen Stocklinski, who was subbed out 5 times for a special 3rd down package. That’s it.

Remarkable effort from this unit to play at such a high level in a big moment, and I was very happy we only faced 50 snaps. Hampton running 79 plays last week was tough to see, so a much lighter load in the regular season finale will surely help at the beginning of the playoff run.

Quantraill Morris-Walker – 11 tackles, 2 TFLs, and a sack for the senior, earning him CAA Defensive POTW. Coach Huesman mentioned that William & Mary ran the outside zone better than anyone and having a strong defender on the edge went a long way in this one. His was our highest rated defender by PFF and the team speed advantage W&M had two years ago was non-existent this season.

Jeremiah Grant – #2 finishes the regular season with 12.5 sacks (1st in the CAA), 16.5 TFLs (3rd), and two forced fumbles (T-5th). No doubt a 1st team All-CAA selection and he should be a 1st team All-American as well. Richmond needed every single D-line starter to carry the extra load since mid-September, with Grant going beyond that. Heck of a final season in a Richmond uniform for Jeremiah.

Conversions

William & Mary was supposed to have the advantage in these two areas but the Spiders shut them down:

3rd down – The Tribe came in as the 6th best 3rd down offense in the FCS yet converted just 25% of 3rd downs. Their average yards-to-go was 10.2 and it was pretty clear they weren’t built to convert 3rd & longs. Our 3rd down success got us off the field quickly, with six of W&M’s eight drives lasting six plays or less.

Redzone – What’s the easiest way to stop the 10th best redzone offense in the FCS? Never let them get there. ZERO redzone trips for the Tribe, a team that was averaging 4.5 trips/game. Another stat that is so much better than I could’ve imagined.

Special Teams

Nice game by Quanye Veney. I was critical of our punt returning without DeGennaro but #3 looked much more comfortable fielding both punts. Glad to see him get a good game under his belt.

Sean O’Haire continues his meteoric rise, drilling a 50-yard field goal and earning CAA Special Teams POTW.

Can’t do better than 9/9, with three of those field goals over 40 yards. O’Haire showed he’s got both power and accuracy, something you don’t find too often at this level.

Only one punt for Trusler, but it was William & Mary’s inability to properly punt that stood out. One punt went for just 20 yards, and another they never got off due to a bad snap. You forget just how good the Catanzarite/Trusler operation has been until you see your opponent struggle, so congrats to them on another great regular season.

FCS Playoffs

Missing out on the first-round bye is deflating, especially after so many projections had us at #7/#8, however there’s no shame in capturing a top 10 national seed. Our only solace is that we apparently never had a chance – seeing Incarnate Word at 6 was shocking, and with the schedule/wins that Idaho had I don’t think it would’ve mattered if we won every November game by 27. It comes down to the Wofford game, which I don’t need to rehash.

On to Lehigh.

Next Post

After the last two years, what else would you talk about with your family over Thanksgiving if the weekly preview wasn’t out Thursday morning?

FCS Playoffs First Round – 2024: Lehigh preview – Thursday, November 28th