Very few surprises over the weekend. The Spiders fall 41-6, seeing the offensive struggles continue and some positive signs on defense.

Drives

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

Game thoughts

FBS opponent – This is a tough game to dig into the numbers because we know we’re outmanned at every position. Overall I thought the defense held up well. Big plays hurt us early however over the course of 60 minutes we were strong at the line of scrimmage. That’s the biggest thing I was looking for defensively and although it wasn’t great I would say we checked the ‘good’ box.

Aggressiveness – An interesting blend of overly conservative and overly aggressive. No issues with the fake punt deep in our territory. It was 10-0 already and we weren’t moving the ball. UNC gave us the look we wanted – overplaying towards our left side rollout leaving numbers going back right. Just didn’t work out.

The surprise onside to start the 2nd half was probably over aggressive but again, why not? Nothing to lose so even if it fails we’re in the same spot. What’s fascinating is that we did that almost immediately following our overly conservative redzone field goal. With the score 20-0 UNC, UR had 4th & 2 at the UNC 7 with less than 2 minutes in the 1st half. Rather than go for a TD we kicked a field goal which turned a three possession deficit into a… three possession deficit? You’re gaining basically nothing there by tacking on 3 points. It was our first drive of the game that advanced the ball at all, and a 20-7 halftime score could have changed things. Instead it’s a win for North Carolina and we’re still trailing by three scores. For a coach who said on Wednesday “if we want to keep this thing into the 4th quarter… we’re going to have to make plays when the opportunity arises” we sure had no problem letting that opportunity go to waste.

Injuries – Carter Glassmyer and D’Angelo Stocker did not dress, as the Spiders defense was down two starters over the weekend. Both looked active on the sidelines so it definitely felt more precautionary than anything. Jaiden Fair had a brace on his right leg and was hobbling. Still walking around, so somewhat positive, but his status remains much more uncertain.

Offense

11 drives | 64 snaps – 5 punts, 4 turnovers [1 on downs], 2 FGs

Our struggles were never going to be fixed in our FBS game. The level of competition made for a difficult watch but I do think some personnel made good strides – we got to see Isaiah Dawson as a true receiver, we had a cleaner game on the O-line, and we showed some depth at running back. We all knew we weren’t going to put up 30 points but it wasn’t all bad. What made the game awful was our approach, which left me confused for the third straight week.

I say it left me confused but truthfully I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s clear this is the style of offense Coach Huesman wants. Power QB, run heavy, and try to win low scoring games. This is how it’s gone to start 2023, 2024, and now 2025. Without OC-changes and Cam Coleman bursting onto the scene we actually would’ve seen this a lot more. Like I said after the Lehigh game, we have to be the ones to ignite the change however we also have to want there to be a change. Based on what is said in interviews and what we see in games, I don’t think much change is coming. Lots of talk about executing “what we do” better and not much about an offensive overhaul. I think many can feel our ceiling being lowered by the week however this is the plan/personnel we’re sticking to. So we continue on…

Approach – Richmond had 25 1st down plays, with 21 (84%) being runs. UR running backs faced similar challenges to prior weeks – King, Brown, Foster-Powell, and Creamer combined for 30 carries, with 21 of those going for 4 yards or less. A very familiar summary in the end; lots of 1st down running, with too many minimal gains and not enough chunk plays.

The rushing wasn’t exclusive to 1st down. Of our 64 plays, 18 were called passes. Due to three sacks we only got 15 pass attempts off all game. Even after we started rotating Wickersham & Snelsire there wasn’t much urgency to throw the ball. Again, the Spiders were never making a comeback in that game but to have our QB box score finish the way it did was depressing.

Ashten Snelsire – Credit to Ashten. Never easy to come in against an ACC foe after working exclusively at QB2. He led both long, scoring drives and although the box score isn’t pretty there were clear differences that stood out. His pocket presence was great, feeling the rush and showing the ability to escape when needed. What really jumped out was how he got the ball out on time. UNC collapsed the pocket fairly often and we got burned by holding the ball early in the game. We’ve seen Wickersham get trapped holding the ball and I thought Snelsire did an excellent job of getting through his reads and then getting the ball out of his hands. Their coverage was solid so he rarely had a receiver open, however the operation felt a lot smoother. The offense looked different with #18 in there and had some flow that we were yet to see in 2025.

Michael Creamer – For the second straight game we saw true freshman Michael Creamer. #9 had the second most carries of UR running backs so he’s clearly working his way up the depth chart. After Jamaal Brown’s fumble and Andrew King still not seeing a consistent role, it’s possible we see Creamer burn his redshirt and play all of 2025.

Offensive line shuffle – JT Sowell got some snaps at center for the first time. Trey Gray is playing well there however we need him badly at right tackle. It looks like we prefer to have him at tackle, we’ve just got to get center figured out first. Jason Smith got in against his former team and did well at guard. Bo Fowler got banged up a little bit so we could see Smith work in more against VMI. I was glad to see this group put together a good 2nd half. I know UNC had pulled their starters but doing better against a second-string ACC defense is still something we can hang our hats on. The Spiders managed just 35 1st half rushing yards but had 89 in the 2nd half. Not much, but something.

Defense

9 drives | 50 snaps – 4 TDs, 2 FGs, 2 punts, 1 turnover

Even with Glassmyer and Stocker these guys played well. Just 312 yards for UNC (plus a turnover) didn’t have Tar Heels fans feeling too great about the game either. It would have been even closer if we don’t jump offsides on that 4th & 2. Without that, Carolina is held to six points in the 1st quarter and things potentially get interesting.

Field position – The defense got the brunt of our poor offensive display. Four of nine UNC drives started inside the Richmond 40-yard line. That helped open up their playbook and it led to 17 of the 34 points our defense allowed. There are always difficult circumstances to overcome but it painted a poor picture of how the defense did.

Despite bad field position these guys stepped up in the redzone. Carolina got there five times yet scored just two TDs. That’s a good indicator of how well we did up front, as it’s usually easy for FBS teams to run over smaller schools at the goal line. Solid effort all around.

Chunk plays – What hurts the most are the chunk plays. 95 rushing yards came on two plays (49% of rushing yards and 30% of total yards). Without those we really made the Tar Heels work for their yardage. We put them in a good amount of 3rd downs and held them to 2/6 on 3rd & short situations. I’m always looking for chunk plays on offense, so you can’t simply exclude them and consider everything great, however over the course of 60 minutes we really held our own.

Camden Byrd – Three games and three sacks for Byrd, including a forced fumble on UNC’s quarterback. He’s leading the Spiders in sacks, QB hurries, and pass-rush win %. The D-line continues to grade well across the board with #6 leading the way.

Devin Geronomi – Very surprised to see Geronomi get the start in place of Stocker. #22 is a true freshman who has worked exclusively at safety before this week. With both he and Tremayne Bullock getting a good amount of snaps, Kyree Richardson has effectively fallen to CB5. It was Stocker, Fraser, and Richardson rotating at corner throughout camp so clearly something changed in the last few weeks. This is another position that we’re probably going to burn some redshirts at.

Special teams

Excellent game from Will McManus. Two touchbacks and a perfectly executed surprise onside kick. Can’t do any better than that.

Really happy for Jayden Alsheskie. It’s fair to gripe about both field goal attempts but getting him game action beyond PATs is meaningful. Had the Spiders converted our fake punt it would have been an all around solid day on special teams.

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Game 4 – 2025: VMI preview – Friday, September 19th