Patriot League play resumes for Richmond as the Spiders look to capitalize on another early-season home game and improve to 2-0 in conference play.

Georgetown Hoyas

Georgetown comes in at 0-1 after an unusual start to the season. The Hoyas led Lafayette 13-7 in Week 0 before a lightning storm forced the game to be abandoned, and a bye last weekend leaves a 45-14 loss to Lehigh as their only official result of 2026.

The Hoyas enter the week as the lowest power-rated team in the Patriot League, checking in at #109 according to Massey. They’re relatively young across the two-deep and entered the season needing to replace several key contributors from 2025. Lehigh is currently the class of the Patriot League, so judging Georgetown solely on that matchup would be unfair, but the 45-14 result suggests Georgetown is not ready to be a Patriot League contender. Simply put, this is the kind of game Richmond needs to win if we’re going to make noise come November.

Odds

The Spiders opened as 11.5-point favorites, with a total of 47.5. Projected score is Richmond 30, Georgetown 18.

Two-Deep

Some positive news this week from Coach Huesman on the injury front. WR Andreas Hill and FS Caleb Geronomi are full go. RB Jamaal Brown is about a week away from returning, which is excellent news given how bad his injury looked at the end of the Howard game. RT Godwin Burger and LB Carter Glassmyer are still a few weeks away from returning, so I’m hoping we’ll see them sometime in October.

On one hand, it’s cool to see brothers Devin & Caleb starting at the two safety spots. On the other, captain Jordan Allen is not listed on the two-deep despite returning against NC State. He did not play after the lightning delay, and no further update has been provided regarding his availability.

Spiders on Offense

The G’Town defense was pretty average last year, ranking in the middle of the Patriot League in most major categories. They didn’t show any improvement in Week 1, allowing Lehigh to pile up 573 yards (including 302 yards on the ground). I want to see Snelsire return to the rhythm of Weeks 0 and 1, but this is also an opportunity to reestablish our rushing attack and take some pressure off the passing game.

Fast start – The Hoyas are not built to win high-scoring games. In their Patriot League wins last season, they averaged just 22 points, and their results were heavily tied to getting in front early. Georgetown went 5-1 when scoring first last season, compared to just 1-5 when its opponent struck first. Coming out hot like we did against Bucknell and Howard (34 combined 1st quarter points) will force Georgetown into a style of game they haven’t had success playing.

Red zone – An excellent UR offense versus a terrible Georgetown defense. The Hoyas were last in the Patriot League (t-85th in the FCS) in red zone TD defense, a figure that held true against Lehigh, as the Mountain Hawks scored TDs on six of eight trips. So far in 2026, the Spiders have six TDs on seven true red zone possessions (still excluding the run-out-the-clock drive @ Howard).

Richmond’s red zone execution was a major part of last season’s comeback at Georgetown, with the Spiders scoring on all four trips (3 TDs + 1 FG). This is a matchup we should be able to exploit again tomorrow.

Running backs – It’s great that we’re willing to throw the ball on early downs, but you still need a run game to complement that. After tallying 190 yards (5.9 YPC) against Bucknell, Spiders RBs managed just 78 yards (3.3 YPC) against Howard. For the season, our RBs are gaining three yards or less on 52% of their carries, a sign that our consistency has a long way to go.

It’s an unfair comparison, but Lehigh ran for 302 yards (5.2 YPC) and four TDs against Georgetown, including nine runs of 10+ yards. I’m not saying we need 300 yards in this game, but this should be an opportunity to get the ground game going again. After playing just four snaps against NC State, a fresh Aziz Foster-Powell should certainly help. Add in the O-line starting the same five [Anderson-Hundley-Smith-Surrett-Fowler] for a second straight week, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t see improvement.

I also like how we’re using running backs in the passing game. Through three games, our RBs have 72 receiving yards, with two receptions of 20+ yards. Both Aziz and Butter Stephenson are excellent receivers out of the backfield, so I’m interested to see how the staff continues to keep them involved in both aspects of the offense.

Spiders on Defense

Georgetown lost nearly all skill-position production from their 2025 campaign. Gone are QBs Dez Thomas II (12 TDs) and Danny Lauter, along with star WR Jimmy Kibble (1,002 yards, 4 TDs) and star RB Savion Hart (818 yards, 10 TDs). The Hoyas finished in the bottom half of the Patriot League in most key offensive statistics but still hit a couple of chunk plays to nearly upend us last November.

Between the half-game against Lafayette and the full game against Lehigh, they have one offensive TD. If the UR defense was looking for an opponent to help us get back on track, it’s the Hoyas.

Two quarterbacks – Two QBs saw action for Georgetown against Lehigh, Jacob Holtschlag (#16) and Jack Johnson (#17). Holtschlag is a pocket passer, throwing it 15 times with zero designed rushing attempts. Johnson offers more of a dual threat, throwing it 10 times while also rushing for 46 yards on seven carries. Neither had much success through the air (124 passing yards combined), but the two-QB approach gives the Hoyas a couple of different looks offensively. Our defense had issues keeping the Howard QB contained, so we’ll need to be better when Johnson is in the game.

Defensive line – Yet another game the Spiders’ defense can win by controlling the trenches. Georgetown’s protection was awful last season, finishing 7th in the Patriot League and 122nd in the FCS in sacks allowed. Lehigh had three sacks in Week 1 and held Georgetown running backs to runs of 3 yards or less on 58% of their carries, so their O-line should be in for a long night against our defensive front. DT Braxton Lassiter did leave the NC State game with an injury, so it’s worth monitoring his status and how large a role he’ll be able to play.

Secondary – Overall, it’s been another good start for the Spiders in coverage. Opponents are completing just 53% of their passes, the 2nd-lowest in the Patriot League. Georgetown had an extremely low completion percentage in 2025 (57% — 104th in the FCS) and went just 12/25 against Lehigh. The UR secondary made big strides last year, with the drop in opponents’ completion percentage playing a major role. We already have five flags for DPI/holding this season, yet the trade-off continues to pay off as the physical coverage produces results.

Special Teams

Jaiden Fair has a big opportunity to impact this game in two areas.

Fair remains on the two-deep at kickoff returner in place of Jamaal Brown. Georgetown only had 11 touchbacks on 49 kickoffs last season, which means #2 should get his first real chance to help a KOR unit that hasn’t had much success this year.

On punt returns, Georgetown allowed the second-most return yards in 2025. Lehigh returned a punt 46 yards two weeks ago, giving Fair another favorable matchup against a vulnerable Georgetown punt unit.

One thing to watch on the other side — Georgetown did return a kickoff for a TD against Lafayette. There’s no official box score for the cancelled game, but it’s worth noting the Week 1 fireworks from the Hoyas’ KOR unit.

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2026 — Game 4: Georgetown Recap – Monday, September 21st