And just like that… it’s over. The same old mistakes finally caught up in the Spiders, dropping the opening game of the 2024 Playoffs to Lehigh 20-16. A disappointing end to a 10-win season and it leaves plenty of unanswered questions entering a very interesting offseason.

Drives

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

Offense

67 snaps | 9 drives – 3 FGs (33%), 3 punts (33%), 2 turnovers on downs (22%), 1 TD (11%)

One touchdown in a playoff game won’t cut it. It felt like we lost that game after the first three possessions – a redzone trip that resulted in a FG, drop on 3rd down that led to a failed 4th down, and then another FG from the redzone. It was only 6-0 UR after three solid drives, with Lehigh claiming the lead shortly thereafter. We didn’t need our A game to win this, but the offense could’ve even muster a C+ effort to steal a win.

Redzone – I try my best to write about different things. Some areas of the game are worth discussing each week, yet at the same time I never want the previews/recaps to only discuss the same two or three things. Redzone unfortunately gets another section this week, as it remained a huge issue on Saturday. Four redzone trips, one touchdown. Can’t win like that. We got away with it for weeks on end, but all mistakes are magnified in the playoffs.

One drive it was penalties, pushing the Spiders off the 1-yard line and into a 2nd & long situation. Another was poor short yardage running out of shotgun, something that plagued this offense all season. Then it was an inability to throw the ball into the endzone – probably less inability and more so unwillingness. When we couldn’t run the ball our redzone offense turned into a bunch of mesh/crossing routes, hoping to complete a short pass that we could carry into the endzone. Teams caught on to this and it left us with nowhere to turn. Our inability to evolve and improve in a critical area is arguably the #1 factor in us losing this game.

Drops – Official stats give the Spiders six drops, which may be generous. One at the goal line, one in the endzone, one that would’ve been an easy TD, and multiple that would’ve converted big 3rd and 4th downs. The absence of DeGennaro was glaring, as it’s been a long time since we saw the receiver group as a whole struggle that much.

1st & 2nd down – Run/pass splits below:

• 1st down: 17 run, 8 pass
• 2nd down: 6 run, 17 pass

Plenty of run, pass, pass three-play sequences for UR. The 1st down rushing average is solid (4.7 YPC) however that’s aided by big runs. ZPS had 15 1st down rushes – nine of them (60%) went for 2 yards or less. We faced way too many 2nd & longs due to minimal 1st down gains. Nothing new here, as this is the trend we’ve followed throughout November. That’s clearly how we want to attack teams, but consistent gains are necessary to be effective. Richmond never had that, yet the plan never adjusted.

Passing Chart – A predictable running game, and predictable passing game, led to Lehigh being in great position throughout the day.

Very strange to see 2/3 of the passes within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. Without #11 we weren’t as willing to throw the ball downfield, and it allowed Lehigh’s defense to play close to the line of scrimmage. Our yards/attempt was 5.3, way too low to be effective and well below our season average. That narrowed the rushing lanes and shrunk the throwing lanes, as this offense looked frustrated for most of the day. The Mountain Hawks had a lot of deflections and the spark this passing game once had was nowhere to be found.

Offensive line – Another great game from the guys up front. Very little pressure put on Coleman and they handled the blitz packages really well. We took a key part of Lehigh’s gameplan away with great protection, especially inside. Factor in ZPS picking up a few blitzes and it was another game where our O-line put us in a great spot to win.

Zach Palmer-Smith – #9 finished with 1,382 yards, the 5th most in a season for a Spiders running back. He easily wins transfer of the year, especially since he didn’t start the first few games. Lots to discuss about how and when we used him, however from a personnel standpoint we’ve got a great running back room and a clear RB1.

Defense

54 snaps | 9 drives – 3 TDs (33%), 3 turnovers [1 on downs] (33%), 3 punts (33%)

Defensive line – These guys held up once again. Crazy what this group was able to do despite no depth and almost no substituting the final few games. Lehigh ran for just 3.8 YPC and couldn’t keep drives alive on the ground. Jeremiah Grant had another sack to bring his total to 13.5, just 1/2 sack shy of the UR single season record. The MVP of the defense, with this entire group being top performers all year.

Big plays – All three of Lehigh’s TD drives featured a play of 40+ yards. The first drive we lose a jump ball for a 41-yard gain. The final drive we allowed a 54-yard TD pass. The killer was their second TD, immediately after we took a two-score lead. Simple 1st down run play and there’s no room (below).

We just have to set the edge. We’re in perfect position to make the play but instead get lost inside and never even get a hand on him. Every bit of momentum we had went out the door and it was Lehigh’s game from that point forward.

3rd down – 7/11 from the Mountain Hawks, with the Spiders not finding much improvement here. Overall, 20 points is a solid showing and should be enough for us to win 99% of the time, however a few big plays on 3rd down will be tough to rewatch on film. The 41-yard jump ball I mentioned came on a 3rd & 7 and letting them convert a 3rd & 17 on their last TD drive just can’t happen. All of their big plays and conversions came with the Spiders in a great spot, just simply unable to finish the play. Very frustrating execution from a group that had been really good in those key moments.

Jabril Hayes – Crazy career trajectory for our senior captain. He was a reserve corner for two years with little playing time (just 21 snaps in 2021 & 2022), but once he made the switch to safety he became one of our most important players. Two more INTs, bringing his season total to five and career total to eight. Traynor’s rise and Rookie of the Year honors somewhat overshadowed the play of Hayes, as #21 was just as impactful for this UR secondary.

In-game decisions/actions

Lots of decisions to play Monday morning quarterback on:

Not calling timeout with 11 seconds to take another shot to the endzone before halftime was strange. It just screams that we don’t trust our QB/offense, which is sadly a good summary of our redzone efforts for most of the season. Coach Huesman also said he wanted to kick the field goal on 4th down of our only TD drive, but Coach October talked him out of it. 4th & 1 at the Lehigh 7 and we’re debating kicking a field goal to go up 5 points?

The challenge is hard to defend. UR has all 3 timeouts, trailing in the 4th quarter, but we’re going to risk a timeout to gain one yard, just to avoid a 3rd & 1? Had Veney not muffed the punt those 40 seconds that we lost by not being able to stop the clock would’ve been crucial.

The thing I have to bring up is the coaching “conversations” at halftime. I got tweets, texts, and about 15 fans asking me about this. To be clear, I completely missed it, but apparently Huesman and October had a “lively conversation” walking into the locker room that spanned 50 yards and 2-3 minutes. All I know is they had plenty of these conservations throughout the year. We saw heated arguments and lots of disagreements in big spots, and not in the Nick Saban/Lane Kiffin style. This is something more for the season long recap but our identity on offense was never really established, and it’s hard to not think the constant push/pull on the sidelines didn’t play a factor. We’ve got a lot of guys who put up great numbers, yet the offense scored 30+ points just three times in 13 games.

Special Teams

Sean O’Haire finishes the year 12/12 on field goals after going 3/3 in this one. I wish he didn’t have so many attempts in the 20-29 yard range but what a special impact the true freshman made. Assuming he hangs around he’s our kicker for the foreseeable future.

Hate how it ended for Quanye Veney. His muffed punt doesn’t even make the top 10 list of miscues we had in this one, but I was really hoping he would have another clean outing. Another spot that suffered without DeGennaro and undoubtedly something that will need to be addressed this spring.

Thank you!

Sad to see another season of Richmond football end however I have to take some time to thank everyone who reads this. Continuing to grow the UR football community is the only goal of this website. My aim has always been to keep fans informed and create dialogue. I truly appreciate all questions, comments, and suggestions I receive. Even if you think I’m dead wrong, talk about something too much, or completely ignore something you think should be mentioned, I want to hear about it. Seriously, the more topics that are discussed the better.

It doesn’t matter how you feel about our staff, who you think the starting QB should be, or if you love/hate the move to the Patriot League. The only thing that will be bad for the program is a lack of fan interest and engagement. Whether it’s something I can do with this website or something you think should be brought up to the athletic department, I’d love to talk about it. NIL, community involvement, etc. – you name it, let’s talk about it. I love all the conversations I’ve had with players, parents, and fans the past three years, and it’s shown me that a small school can still make plenty of noise if the right things happen.

Next Post

Season recap will be sometime next week. Have to let the sting wear off and also see what early portal activity we have. The next post will look at the 13 games as a whole – what worked, where we improved, and ultimately where we fell short.