The annual FBS game takes Richmond down to Raleigh, North Carolina, to collect our $400,000 check and square off against an ACC foe.

North Carolina State Wolfpack

Richmond returns to Raleigh for the first time since our near-upset in 2013. The Spiders had a 21-13 halftime lead before being shut out in the 2nd half, resulting in a 23-21 loss. If Ben Edwards doesn’t get hurt, we win that game.

NC State is coming off an 8-5 season, capped by a Gasparilla Bowl win over Memphis, but was sluggish in their season opener. Down 17-0 at halftime against UVA, the Wolfpack managed just 83 yards, plus two turnovers, in the opening 30 minutes. We know the Spiders have been excellent in 1st halves through two weeks, and another fast start could make this game interesting early on.

Odds

North Carolina State is a 30.5-point favorite with an O/U of 49.5. Projected score is NCSU 40, Richmond 9.

Two-Deep

The Spiders get a defensive captain back this week, a huge pickup for our defense —

Jordan Allen (hurt during the fall scrimmage) is listed for the first time, with Devin Geronomi sliding over to free safety. Lee Bruner IV remains out, but the four names above give us options for filling out the back end of our defense.

At running back, Aziz remains RB1; however, Jamaal Brown is not listed. Coach Huesman did confirm Aziz will miss the 1st half tomorrow night, but didn’t let the topic go without defending our guy and reminding everyone how poorly everything was handled last weekend.

“For it to be that uneven with what happened during the course of play was pretty ridiculous.”

Spiders on Offense

This year’s non-Week 1 FBS game feels much different than prior seasons. Entering the 2023 game against Michigan State and 2025 matchup against UNC, we had already suffered an early-season loss and were behind the 8-ball. Thankfully that’s not the position we’re in this season. It hasn’t been perfect, but this year it feels like we have a good idea of who we are and how we’re going to beat teams. Even if it’s small, I’m excited to see if we can keep that momentum going and see some offensive progress against a Power-4 school.

Ashten Snelsire – What more could you ask for from Snelsire to start the season?

Excellent numbers across the board, taking care of the football and spreading it around to all of his weapons. There’s been so much fixation on the 2nd half letdowns and how the offense can take the next step (I’m the guiltiest party in that group) that it’s been easy to gloss over how well #18 has performed. He wasn’t rattled as the game tightened last weekend and has shown us what this offense really can be. Doing it against FBS competition isn’t necessarily the next step, but I would love to see us perform better than recent years.

Not the most exciting games in recent seasons, with Snelsire playing a fair amount last year but still not really getting to operate the offense. He played 38 snaps @ UNC, yet ran it eight times while only throwing seven passes. Now that we’ve turned the corner on a QB-run-centric offense, I’m excited to see what Ashten can do against an ACC defense.

Redzone – Another area we should be talking about more is our redzone execution. Seven trips for the Spiders with six resulting in TDs (I’m excluding the unfinished, run-out-the-clock drive against Howard). Extremely efficient from our offense and I think Snelsire is driving this. In those seven trips, the Spiders have run 17 plays, with a near 50/50 run/pass split. We’re not afraid to put the ball in our QB’s hands and it’s paying off big time. Ashten is 5/8 passing for 62 yards, 3 TDs, and 0 INTs.

Personnel – The Spiders were in 12 personnel (1 RB, 2 TEs) nearly 30% of the game against Howard, as both Clarke and Derey continue to allow us to expand our personnel usage. Two-back sets are also on the rise; however, that could change given Jamaal Brown’s injury and Aziz Foster-Powell’s status. With at least one less running back than usual, I’m interested to see which players receive more snaps. Andreas Hill and Bryce Allen are getting the majority of the snaps at receiver, but after a big game we could see more Quanye Veney (52% of snaps) or Jaiden Fair (19% of snaps).

Spiders on Defense

NC State put up solid numbers on offense last year, led by quarterback CJ Bailey (3,105 yards, 25 TDs), yet they really struggled two weeks ago in Charlottesville.

Coming off an open week, I’m expecting the Wolfpack to be more dynamic on offense and really test every level of the Richmond defense. We’ve seen prior UR teams hang with FBS opponents in the trenches (the 2021 team against Virginia Tech comes to mind), so I’ll be especially keyed in on our D-line and how they battle a Power-4 opponent.

QB runs – Our first opponent of the season with a heavy dose of designed QB runs. In their Week 0 matchup against UVA, NC State quarterbacks (CJ Bailey and Will Wilson) ran it 16 times for 54 yards. They weren’t overly effective, but it’s clear this is a big part of their game plan. The Wolfpack feature four seniors/5th-years on the O-line, and given that they’re the Power-4 team in this battle, I imagine they plan to set the tone up front. This will undoubtedly be the toughest test for our defensive line, but I’m also going to watch Blake Houser a lot tomorrow.

Houser made his first collegiate start against UNC last season, finishing with seven tackles, two QB hurries, and solidifying his role in the UR defense for the remainder of the season. He’s been excellent to start 2026, playing all 125 snaps while recording 18 tackles, two TFLs, one sack, and one forced fumble. He’ll be tested even more against NC State’s rushing attack, so let’s see how he fares against another ACC foe.

CJ Bailey – Assuming we see CJ Bailey under center for most of the night, expect the Wolfpack to balance things out by taking downfield shots. Bailey was elite on throws 20+ yards downfield last season:

On 53 pass attempts, he threw for 930 yards (17.5 YPA), 11 TDs, and just 1 INT. We’ve seen the benefits from Snelsire of what a downfield passing attack can add to an offense and we’re about to face a really good one defensively. Surprisingly, they had no success stretching the field against UVA, going just 0/2 on passes 20+ yards downfield, so I imagine this was a point of emphasis during their bye week. Our secondary did well against Howard but should have their first big test of 2026 tomorrow.

Snap counts – A few positions where the snap counts stand out to me. The first is cornerback — we’ve used three corners thus far, with a clear CB1 emerging.

Coach Huesman wasn’t lying when he talked during camp about how much he likes Jeremiah Washington. #4 is rarely leaving the field, with Richardson and Bullock continuing to rotate in. All three have graded well early on, so while Washington has separated himself it’s nice to see depth here.

The D-line snap counts are extremely surprising. It’s purely a three-man rotation at defensive end, with an even tighter rotation at defensive tackle.

This is not what I expected after watching camp and listening to post-practice interviews. Byrd and Lassiter over 80% is quite high. I’m not sure if we plan to keep this up for a 12-game schedule, but that’s asking a lot from two starters, especially 85% from a DT.

I’m mostly surprised by this given the options behind these guys. There have been some years we’ve had no choice, but early in the season I’m shocked we basically haven’t seen our DT4 or DE4.

• Jack Reece (DT) – 4 snaps
• Moses Bailey (DE) – 4 snaps

Reece and Bryce Lee were battling it out for DT3, and while Bryce’s play has been very good, I didn’t think we’d draw the line so quickly that we wouldn’t see Reece. The same goes for Bailey — it’s hard to take any of our DEs off the field, but Bailey has shown a lot of promise as an edge rusher and was someone I thought could help lighten the load for the starters.

Obviously the D-line play has been excellent — no one is arguing against that. This is more about whether we view this rotation as sustainable all the way through November. No team ever has too much depth, so I’d love to see #92 and #44 get more game experience.

Special Teams

What stood out most to me from NC State’s 2025 season was their poor return units. The Wolfpack were dead last in the ACC in punt return average (4.2 yards/return). Ned Gray has been booming it through two weeks, so we should see him keep that net punting average high.

NC State also struggled with kickoff return, finishing 14th in the ACC (18.3 yards/return). Jackson Bonser has 11 kickoffs so far, with four going for touchbacks and an average starting field position just outside the 25-yard line. I love having your kicker and your kickoff specialist be two different players, and Bonser has done a nice job filling Will McManus’ shoes.

Next Post

2026 — Game 3: NC State recap – Monday, September 14th