Another one-possession game doesn’t go our way. Richmond drops to 4-4 and 1-3 in the Patriot League heading into November.

Drives

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

Game thoughts

1st quarter – Holy Cross is a slow starting team so for me it felt like we lost that game in the 1st quarter. The Spiders struck quickly thanks to a big play from Andreas Hill however the defense could not follow that up. HC answered with a 16 play, 75 yard drive that featured four 3rd down conversions. We had plenty of opportunities to have the ball up 7-0 but couldn’t convert. Both Coach Huesman and Kyle mentioned missing Ja’Vion Griffin for a TD on the drive after that, as that would’ve given the Spiders two early scores. A poor punt then led to another Crusaders TD a couple minutes into the 2nd quarter and we never held the lead again.

Redzone – Huge difference in the game was redzone execution.

Three TDs for Holy Cross while we had to settle for field goals twice. Not scoring a touchdown despite 1st & goal from the 4 was a killer. Not only did it take points off the board, it would have reclaimed the lead halfway through the 3rd quarter. Plenty of momentum lost there and it definitely impacted how things played out in the 4th quarter. The defense won’t be happy allowing TDs all three times either – we forced a couple redzone FGs last week but Holy Cross was able to win at the goal line.

Injuries – Jaiden Fair, Quanye Veney, and D’Angelo Stocker all remained out. With Fair and Veney out we saw plenty of Andreas Hill and a lot more of Trey Mancuso. Geronomi got the start in place of Stocker, with true freshman Jeremiah Washington getting a few drives at boundary corner. With Blake Houser starting in place of Carter Glassmyer, we had six true or redshirt freshmen rotating on defense throughout the day. Lots of younger Spiders are continuing to get game snaps as we work through injuries.

Offense

12 drives | 69 snaps – 5 punts, 3 FGs, 2 TDs, 2 turnovers [1 on downs]

A very disjointed day from the UR offense. Some nice flashes and big plays but 22 points won’t win many games. I know we looked quite predictable to many fans and it’s clear that Holy Cross was well prepared coming off their bye week. They had allowed 37 PPG in their last three outings but made the necessary adjustments to get stops and keep us out of the endzone.

From a numbers perspective I really liked how the passing chart ended up for Wickersham.

We continually let him take shots, worked the ball over the middle of the field, and got plenty of guys involved. Too many short passes went for minimal gains but eight throws of 16+ yards downfield resulted in a balanced game from our receiving corps and four chunk plays.

I said in the preview that we had a chance to spread the ball around and #16 did just that, with three UR receivers totaling 50+ yards for just the second time this year. I love that we got Ja’Vion nine targets, as #5 continues to be a steady piece of our passing game on the outside.

Running game – Wickersham’s timely scrambles saved a lot of our numbers. He had three scrambles on passing plays that resulted in 48 yards and two critical conversions. Outside of that it felt like we realized our running potential too late. Foster-Powell had 80 yards at over 6 YPC, yet got just three 1st half touches. Four of our six 1st half drives resulted in punts, as our lack of ground game put us behind the sticks (average yards-to-gain was 3rd & 9). Things really took off in the 2nd half for Aziz but we could’ve gotten him involved much sooner.

The designed QB runs still feel like they’re slowing us down, putting Kyle and the offense in difficult spots. On 13 designed QB runs we averaged < 3 YPC, with #16 taking a lot of hits with very little benefit. This coincides with a shift in our overall offensive approach. A lot less north/south, as we tried to balance QB runs with swing passes and sweeps laterally – most swing passes resulted in no gain and our outside running game never got traction. Holy Cross was in our backfield too often as they clearly picked up on some things from our film. Aside from our first drive we never got them on their heels, as they were often in position to defend what looked like the early season UR offense.

Defense

11 drives | 61 snaps – 7 punts, 4 TDs

This is pretty simple – we either got them off the field quickly or they found the endzone, no in between. The seven drives that resulted in punts Holy Cross went nowhere, picking up just 36 yards. On their four scoring drives they tallied 223. We had early opportunities on 3rd down and in the redzone to win those first couple possessions but couldn’t get off the field.

Statistically we held their offense near season averages. They only completed 52% of passes, totaled just 246 yards, and went 5/14 on 3rd down. Our secondary didn’t allow any completions for 15+ yards but that was never going to be an opponent that stretched the field. We knew the HC offense could only win by running and completing shorter throws but they still managed to find the endzone four times.

Turnovers – The Crusaders swung the game with their forced fumble and we couldn’t come up with a turnover of our own. I don’t think we ever had a great chance (Burney’s deflection maybe could’ve been caught?) however I’m still very surprised to see this defense with only seven forced turnovers through eight weeks. For a group that had no issues generating multiple turnovers in most games the past few years, we’ve not been able to find that gear at all in 2025.

Sacks/TFLs – Another area that’s been ok but just not what we expected. One sack and four TFLs isn’t great. It’s far below what Holy Cross was allowing in their first six games and less than what we’ve become accustomed to. Our D-line continues to stay fresh with a steady rotation but they aren’t taking over games against lesser opponents. When we look back on the season it will be interesting to see if that’s more driven by better competition or the Spiders just not backfilling Stocklinski/Grant as well as we hoped.

Linebackers – Plenty of tackles from second level guys, who continue to be the best performing group on this side of the ball. Houser (12 tackles, 1 TFL) and Seelmann (9 tackles, 1 sack, 1 deflection) led the way, and since we technically list Burney (7 tackles, 1 deflection) as an LB the entire group is playing to a high level. Add in Glassmyer and you’ve got a lot of options that all have at least one more year of eligibility. I know Justin Wood has a lot he wants to address over the bye week but he’s got to be happy with the performance of his position group.

Special Teams

Another nice game from Ja’Vion Griffin returning punts. Their punter hit some wobbly kicks but Griffin controlled things well to net solid return yardage. Will McManus drilled three touchbacks, bringing his total to 12 this year.

We saw Jayden Alsheskie more than we wanted but credit to #58. Now 7/7 on field goals and 17/17 on PATs. I’d still love to know whatever transpired at the end of fall camp because our placekicking from 40 & in remains in a great spot thanks to Alsheskie.

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Game 9 – 2025: Fordham preview – Friday, October 31st