Thanks to a brilliant defensive effort, Richmond picks up a crucial non-conference win and moves to 4-0 against FCS competition heading into October.
Game Thoughts
Box Score – For the second straight week, Richmond dominated the box score.
And yet, for the second straight week, the game came down to the final play. Overall, it’s hard not to come away encouraged by the talent advantage. Richmond was simply the better team, and it was especially noticeable in the trenches. I’m not trying to be a UR homer — there was just a clear difference in overall talent. That doesn’t excuse why we keep turning these games into nail-biters, but it does put things into perspective. Furman came to Richmond with a win over #14 Mercer and a close loss to #16 SC State, and for most of Saturday they looked a step below the Spiders. That’s very refreshing to see as we jump back into Patriot League play.
Injuries – No Sean Clarke for the Spiders, though he was walking around the sidelines with a brace on his knee. Ron Anderson went into the tent and didn’t play the 2nd half but appeared to be okay afterward. Unfortunately, an already banged-up Tay Burney went down on the final play with what looked like an ankle injury. In positive news, Jamaal Brown returned to game action, getting just one carry but signaling that he should be good to go come October.
Turnovers & Red Zone – These games tend to come down to critical areas, and while our offense fell short in both, the defense more than made up for it.
- Turnovers — Four turnovers for the UR offense, with the fumble at the goal line being the hardest to swallow. I’ll discuss the three interceptions below, but Aziz has to know you can’t reach the ball out toward the goal line on 1st down. 4th down? Sure. But with three more chances at it, that’s a risk we can’t be taking, and it nearly cost us the game. The UR defense did its part, though, forcing two turnovers of its own. More importantly, the defense responded every time the offense put it in a bad spot, allowing just six points off those four turnovers and coming up with a massive 4th down stop with a few minutes remaining.
- Red Zone — Four red zone trips for the UR offense, one TD. This was mostly an execution problem. Aziz fumbling at the 1-yard line accounted for one empty trip, while Bryce Allen’s drop in the end zone forced us to settle for a field goal on another. That’s 11 points left on the field right there, but again, you have to execute in these areas. Fortunately, things were much better on the other side of the ball. Furman reached the red zone three times and came away with just two field goals. I said in the preview we needed some red zone stops, and Justin Wood’s crew delivered, keeping the Paladins out of the end zone and coming up big multiple times in the 4th quarter.
4th downs – Plenty of 4th down decisions on the day, with Coach Huesman being more aggressive than we’ve seen in recent seasons. UR went for it three times and converted twice — even though the box score won’t credit one of those conversions because an offside penalty wiped out the play. No issues with the failed tush push, as I love that we’re forcing the issue more on 4th & 1 and 4th & 2.
What especially encouraged me was the decision to go for it on 4th & 3 from the Furman 6. In a tie game in the 2nd quarter, that’s a spot where we’ve taken the three points plenty of times. Instead, we gave the offense a chance to make a play, knowing Furman would be pinned deep even if we came up short. The design was even better than the decision:
Carson Derey lines up on the left side of the formation, coming across on the run fake, while Bryce Allen gets a legal crack on the Furman defender (within one yard of the LOS) to spring Derey into the flat. We missed other chances in this area, but executed this one flawlessly.
Offense
Offensive Line – The big winners of the day were the boys up front. I said it was time for them to start making strides, and they answered the call, limiting Furman to just one sack while rushing for nearly 200 yards. Despite not being at full strength (Burger OUT, Anderson OUT 2nd half), the depth continues to hold up, with Luke Surrett and Brady McIntyre both playing well against a great Furman D-line.
They paved the way for a big day for Foster-Powell, as #3 tallied 125 yards on 25 carries, with Butter Stephenson adding 32 yards. What impressed me most was our consistency from the opening possession. For the game, 64% of AFP’s rushing attempts went for 4+ yards. We had very few negative plays, consistently staying ahead of the sticks and winning the line of scrimmage throughout the day. Hard to be anything but encouraged after that showing.
Ashten Snelsire – First real bad game of the year for Snelsire. 19/40, 167 yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs. He forced a few throws and seemed to be locked in on his first read too often, as the Paladins’ secondary was all over plenty of his passes. You don’t often steal a win with that many turnovers, so I’m glad we survived and interested to see how he responds next weekend.
What confused me most was how we approached the game given our overall skill set. We threw the ball 67% of the time in the 1st half. Remember, AFP was getting 5+ yards on the ground almost at will, yet we seemingly forgot about him at times. At the same time, we continued to pepper the intermediate zones, with over 50% of Snelsire’s passes going there.
If you remember from the QB preview over the summer, this was the weakest part of Snelsire’s game. He can obviously make these throws, but the games where he really thrived featured more of a blend between quick hitters and shots into the 16+ Deep bucket.
I know I’m oversimplifying it, but it feels like we’ve gotten away from some of the variety that made this offense so effective. Right now, it feels like we’re asking Ashten to be one-dimensional, repeatedly making 10-12 yard throws from the pocket, and I just don’t think that’s his game — or the best version of this offense. I like our passing game when we use condensed formations to create mismatches and make the defense react. I like when we move the pocket and get the QB throwing on the run. I like when those wrinkles help open up the run game, which pulls defenders closer to the line of scrimmage and ultimately creates opportunities to take shots downfield. Those things all build on one another, and lately we haven’t seen enough of that progression.
Defense
The drive chart tells it all, as the Paladins never found the end zone and spent most of the afternoon stuck on their own side of the field. Zero touchdowns allowed, multiple forced turnovers, and huge stops when we needed them most in the 4th quarter. Justin Wood’s unit simply did everything on Saturday, completely shutting down the Furman offense and continuing what has been an excellent start to 2026.
Defensive Line – I don’t want these recaps to be long-winded rants about the offense and a quick blurb on the defense, but it’s simply another week where we won up front and took away just about everything the Paladins wanted to do.
It was Daniel Sellers’ turn in the spotlight, notching three sacks, four TFLs, and nine total tackles. His athleticism on the edge is special, and his ability to rush from the inside on 3rd downs adds another dimension to an already explosive defense. Braxton Lassiter and Cam Byrd also recorded a sack, giving the Spiders their second five-sack game of the young season. Add in the fact that Furman RBs were held to just 2.5 YPC, and it was another all-around impressive showing from the D-line.
I can’t leave this section without mentioning the snap counts.
Maybe it’s insane that we’re playing these guys so often, but right now it’s insanely impressive. Three starters are effectively never leaving the field, while the DEs are seeing even more work because we’re using all three together on long-yardage downs. I will always worry about how this looks come November and late in games (five 1st half sacks on Saturday, zero in the 2nd), but for today, I’ll quit arguing and enjoy the show.
Chunk Plays – Furman had zero plays that went for 20+ yards. If there was one blemish on our defense through four games, it was allowing too many big plays. The Spiders had allowed 17 plays of 20+ yards through four games but didn’t allow a single one on Saturday, forcing Furman to string together longer drives — and they simply couldn’t do it. Teams are going to have a tough time consistently putting together drives of 8+ plays against this unit, so pitching a shutout in the chunk-play department was another major positive from an already dominant afternoon.
Special Teams
Good bounce-back for Jackson Bonser, with no kickoffs out of bounds and a few driven to the 5-yard line. Kyle Bitsko bounced back as well, making field goals of 26 and 30 yards while missing from 50. The decision to attempt the 50-yarder was the only one I really hated. Not only was the wind not helping him on that kick, but there was still enough time left for Furman to answer with a field goal of its own. With less time on the clock, I could understand taking the shot, but in that situation I just don’t think the risk was worth it. The only real blemish was Jeremiah Washington’s offside penalty on Furman’s first field goal. The attempt sailed wide right, but the mental mistake gave them another chance, which they converted.
Next Post
2026 — Game 6: Lafayette Preview – Friday, October 2nd
Leave a comment