Our final non-conference game of 2026 is a good one, with the Furman Paladins (Southern Conference) making the trip up to Richmond for our first real chance to add a quality win to the postseason resume.
Furman Paladins
The Paladins enter at 2-2, with losses to FBS Tennessee and FCS-ranked South Carolina State, along with wins over D-II Anderson and FCS-ranked Mercer. Low-scoring contests have been Furman’s calling card, as they’ve yet to score more than 20 points in a game while allowing 20 or fewer against all three FCS opponents.
One team stat that really jumps out to me is their scoring by quarter. The Paladins have just three total 1st quarter points this season and have been outscored in each of the first three quarters. However, they have 30 4th quarter points, with the final period being the only quarter they’ve won this season — a pretty glaring contrast to what we’ve seen from the Spiders. Have I mentioned we need to close out games better?
Furman also marks the beginning of some stronger competition. A 3-0 start against FCS foes is great, but the quality of our opponents is hard to ignore. Per Massey Ratings, Bucknell (#100), Howard (#91), and Georgetown (#109) are our three easiest games of the year. You can only play who’s on your schedule, and frankly it’s been nice to have a calmer start to the season for once, but now we’re going to start learning a lot more about the quality of this team.
The Paladins are a fringe at-large contender in the FCS picture thanks to their solid schedule, currently #41 in Massey, while Lafayette and Fordham are both in the 70s. Our toughest tests come later (Colgate, Villanova, Lehigh), but Furman kicks off a three-game stretch that should give us a much better idea of where this Richmond team actually stands.
Two-deep
Not much two-deep news this week. We flipped Luke Surrett and Jason Smith against Georgetown, with Surrett moving to center and Smith back to right guard, a change that is now reflected in the game notes.
Coach Huesman said RB Jamaal Brown will be available for roughly 10 carries, but is not 100%. Aside from that, there were no updates on Godwin Burger, Carter Glassmyer, or Jordan Allen.
Odds
Richmond opened as a 3.5-point favorite, with an Over/Under of 44.5. Projected score is Richmond 24, Furman 20.
Spiders on Offense
Furman boasts one of the nation’s best pass rushers, Joshua Stoneking. Stoneking was the Buck Buchanan Award runner-up, finishing 2025 with 14.5 sacks and 23 TFLs, both tops in the FCS. So far in 2026, he has just 0.5 sacks and three TFLs, but his eight QB hurries and one forced fumble show he’s still pretty disruptive off the edge.
The Paladin defense has gotten better as games have gone along, allowing just 13 total 2nd half points in two FCS matchups. After failing to find the end zone in the 2nd half against Georgetown, the Spiders will have to find some answers against a Furman defense that has been even better after halftime.
Offensive line – Time for the UR O-line to make some strides. Overall, our protection has been good (1.75 sacks allowed/game), but this is about restoring some balance to our attack. Richmond is currently 8th in the Patriot League in overall rushing, averaging 100 YPG and 3.4 YPC.
In recent weeks, we’ve seen Fordham run for over 400 yards against W&M, Lehigh run for 300+ yards twice, and Colgate run for 275 yards en route to a 3-0 FCS start. We don’t need numbers like that, but if we’re going to compete with the best in the Patriot League, we eventually have to be able to win games on the ground. I won’t rehash our 2nd half rushing struggles or how that’s putting a bigger burden on Snelsire and the passing attack. Against a solid SoCon defensive line, I’d like to see this group put together its best game of the season and finally get the run game moving in the right direction before conference play resumes in October.
Wide receivers – Aziz Foster-Powell is getting plenty of praise, but there’s another Highland Springs Springer who deserves more attention than he’s receiving. Senior Quanye Veney has been excellent in 2026, nearly matching his 2025 production through four games (14 catches, 228 yards, 1 TD). He’s been a reliable target for Snelsire, recording 50+ receiving yards in all three FCS games. More importantly, 10 of his 14 receptions have resulted in either a 1st down or a TD. Primarily lining up in the slot this year, #1 has become one of the most dependable pieces of a much-improved Richmond passing attack.
What we’re still missing is someone consistently stretching the field. The shots have been there — you can see that on the passing chart — but Snelsire has connected on just three passes thrown 25+ yards downfield. We’re obviously not going to hit three or four of those every week, but as much as we’re relying on the passing game, we need to start turning a few more of those opportunities into big plays.
Andreas Hill is one guy who could really help change that. He leads the team with six deep targets but hasn’t connected on one yet, and his five catches on 19 total targets give him the lowest catch rate among UR receivers (26%). For whatever reason, the #18 → #5 connection just hasn’t clicked through September. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Hill, but if those two can start connecting downfield, it adds another element that this offense is currently missing.
Spiders on Defense
“Junior Connor Ackerley is in line to make his first start as a Paladin this Saturday against Richmond after taking over for the injured Jake Garcia in Saturday’s 20-17 loss to 16th ranked South Carolina State.”
That’s straight from the Furman game notes, as they aren’t hiding their starting quarterback’s injury. The offense struggled under Garcia but found a spark with Ackerley, as he threw for 164 yards and one TD in relief against South Carolina State. Ackerley was a standout at D-II Western New Mexico, throwing for 3,000 yards and 30 TDs, so I wouldn’t expect things to be much easier just because Garcia is sidelined.
Red zone – On paper the Spiders’ red zone defense is atrocious, but the numbers are pretty misleading. Richmond has faced 11 red zone trips and allowed 11 touchdowns, but NC State accounted for eight of those on its own. The good news is that FCS opponents have only reached the red zone three times in three games, although all three trips have ended in touchdowns. Some of the chunk-play TDs we’ve allowed have kept the number of opportunities down, but overall I’m encouraged by how rarely teams are getting there.
Now we need to start getting some stops. Furman has struggled badly in the red zone, turning seven trips into just two TDs. I’d like to see the Spiders take advantage of that and start turning some of the strong defense we’ve played between the 20s into stops closer to the goal line.
3rd down – It’s early, but our 3rd down defense is looking a lot more like what we saw in 2022 and 2023.
The Spiders are nearly back in the top 25 nationally in 3rd down defense after regressing a bit in 2024 and 2025, while the Furman offense has had virtually no 3rd down success thus far. The Paladins are converting just 20.3% of 3rd down attempts, last in the SoCon and third-to-last in the entire FCS. Poor protection has been a big part of that, with Furman allowing over three sacks/game and consistently finding itself behind the sticks.
Cam Byrd (4.5 sacks) is getting plenty of attention right now, but it’s been a group effort from our front six. Four different Spiders have 2.5+ sacks (Byrd, Baldwin, Sellers, Houser). With a backup QB at the helm, the Spiders need to keep Furman off schedule and continue getting off the field on 3rd down.
Special Teams
Furman’s kicker, Nathan Chapman, has already attempted 11 field goals (eight makes). Eight of his 11 attempts have been from 40+ yards, so the Paladins clearly aren’t afraid to give him a shot from distance. For an offense that hasn’t scored more than 20 points in a game, having that kind of range is a pretty valuable weapon.
I’m still waiting for something to click with our kickoff return unit. Furman has a touchback rate of just 35%, so Saturday should provide another chance for the Spiders to find some production in that area. Jaiden Fair averaged 19 yards on three returns against Georgetown, but this is not a Jaiden Fair issue. Richmond is averaging less than 15 yards/return in 2026, as we simply haven’t generated any good starting field position. I know our numbers are thin and that may limit how much we can change personnel-wise, but four games in, this unit has to find a way to give us more.
Next Post
2026 — Game 5: Furman Recap – Monday, September 28th
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