The Spiders continue their winning ways coming out of the bye week, grinding out a low-scoring victory over Colgate to improve to 6-2 and move into a tie for first place in the Patriot League standings.
Game Thoughts
There’s no better microcosm of our season than this game. The UR offense showed some life early but ultimately struggled to move the ball, scoring just one TD. Meanwhile, the defense forced multiple turnovers, generated a ton of pressure, and sealed the win with a 4th-down stop. If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s what winning football looks like for this team. I’ll continue to question how long we can sustain it, but the Spiders got the job done against a very good opponent.
Injuries – Devin Geronomi exited in the 2nd half and was standing on the sidelines without his pads. I wondered about a potential concussion, so I’m really hoping he’s okay and that we get a positive update on Wednesday. Ron Anderson (LT) still isn’t 100%, and Kelsey Hundley didn’t look fully healthy when he came in, either. We’re thin at tackle and could really use some quick recoveries.
Aggressiveness – Coach Huesman continues to push the envelope, this time calling a fake punt on 4th & 10 from our own territory. It completely flipped the early momentum of the game. He also considered going for a 4th & 2 near midfield in the 4th quarter before ultimately opting to punt. Given our struggles running the ball, I understand the hesitation to put the game in the offense’s hands, but I wouldn’t have hated seeing him force the issue again.
Offense
For box score and drive chart purposes, I’ve excluded the 53-yard fake punt run from our offensive totals. Sorry, offense, but that‘s a special teams play.
For the third time in seven FCS games, the UR offense produced just one TD. I had higher hopes coming off the bye week, yet after managing just 204 yards of total offense against Fordham, we followed it up with only 200 yards on Saturday. Colgate was a significantly tougher opponent, I’m not discounting that, however with an extra week to prepare, I expected us to put together more consistent drives. Two things in particular stood out: negative plays and our 1st/2nd half splits.
Negative/No-Gain Plays – Excluding the kneel-down, we ran 45 offensive plays on Saturday. An astounding 49% of those plays went for zero or negative yardage. Between a 52% completion rate, a sack, and 11 runs going nowhere, the Spiders struggled to generate any consistency. Fortunately, we produced a few more chunk plays through the air to offset some of those wasted downs, but the ground game never got going. AFP and Jamaal Brown combined for just 43 yards on 18 carries (2.4 YPC), with only one rush exceeding 10 yards. When nearly half your offensive plays fail to gain a yard, it’s not hard to understand why we finished with just one TD.
1st/2nd Half Splits – We actually moved the ball okay in the 1st half. Even excluding the fake punt, we had two drives go 50+ yards and managed 152 yards of offense. Against an excellent Colgate defense, that’s good. Once again, though, the 2nd half saw our offense hit a wall.
Across four 2nd-half drives, we couldn’t even manage 50 yards of offense. What really stands out is how drastically our run/pass distribution changed. In the 1st half, we called passes on 63% of 1st and 2nd downs, producing four completions of 20+ yards and averaging over 16 yards per completion. Our 85-yard TD drive took just four plays, all passes. We had nothing going on the ground, but we were finally finding some rhythm and moving the ball through the air.
Despite that success, we completely flipped our approach after halftime, calling passes on just 31% of early downs and leaning heavily on a running game that was getting barely 3 yards/carry.
The passing game certainly wasn’t perfect, but nothing about our 1st-half performance suggested we needed such a noticeable shift in approach. For once, throwing the ball was producing better results than running it, yet our adjustments seemed to work against what we’d established early on. Our 2nd half offense came to a screeching halt, failing to produce a single drive that netted 20 yards. It was another win, but there are still plenty of questions on this side of the ball heading into Holy Cross.
Jaiden Fair – Loved seeing Jaiden more involved in the offense. We had three completions in the 16+ yard bucket, with Fair accounting for two of them.
Entering Saturday, #2 had just 35 receiving yards all season, yet he surpassed that total with 49 yards on two catches, including our only TD of the day. Given how much we’ve struggled to connect with receivers downfield, seeing Fair provide some much-needed chunk plays was a bright spot of the afternoon.
Defense
Zero TDs allowed, three turnovers forced, eight sacks, 11 TFLs, seven QB hurries — it was one of the best defensive performances we’ve seen from a UR squad in a while, and we needed every bit of it. Cam Byrd was excellent (two sacks, two QB hurries), Daniel Sellers and Moses Bailey added a sack apiece, and TJ Baldwin and Braxton Lassiter gave the Raiders nowhere to run up the middle (Colgate RBs managed just 22 yards on 14 carries). I could write three recaps alone just on how well everyone played. Justin Wood finally had his defense at full strength, and it showed.
Blake Houser – There’s nothing I can write that will fully capture what Blake means to this defense or just how well he played on Saturday. Ten tackles, three sacks, two QB hurries, and a game-winning interception (that he absolutely should’ve scored on). For all the attention our defensive line gets (and rightfully so), what Houser continues to do week after week from his MIKE spot is beyond special. I’m not often right, but he made me look like a genius on Saturday. I highlighted in the preview all the different ways we could use him with our defense finally at full strength, and we saw plenty of #11 flying around the field.
Personnel – How fun was it to watch this defense at full strength? Houser lined up all over the field, and with Jordan Allen, Tayshaun Burney, and Carter Glassmyer available, Justin Wood had the flexibility to show Colgate plenty of looks. One that stood out was a five-man front, with three defensive linemen putting a hand in the ground, a DE lined up on one edge, and Houser on the other. With Burney and Glassmyer both playing in the box, we put more responsibility on our safeties but made life miserable for anything Colgate tried to do up front.
Another look featured Houser as a true edge rusher. Daniel Sellers slid inside in place of TJ Baldwin, Houser moved down to the edge, Glassmyer shifted to MIKE, and Jordan Allen came on at SAM. The beauty of having Allen in that role is his ability to tackle with the physicality of a linebacker while still covering ground like a safety. It’s effectively a six-DB look without sacrificing our ability to stop the run.
And the last is similar to above, but with Houser as a QB spy with a three-man front. The goal here is simple — both DEs get up the field hard, forcing the QB to set up, which then allows Blake to close in. If you haven’t realized it yet, opposing QB vs. Blake Houser = advantage Richmond.
Coverage – We got to see a true WR1 on Saturday. Matt Fogler eclipsed 100 yards in the 1st half, finishing with 180 yards on 10 receptions. QB Jake Stearney threw for 312 yards, as Richmond played with a generous cushion on the outside to avoid getting beat deep. The Raiders took advantage of that space throughout the afternoon, but three interceptions helped offset the yardage, including timely picks from Bullock and Washington. It was the first time we’d allowed 300+ passing yards against an FCS opponent this season, but we were clearly willing to concede some underneath throws rather than give up chunk plays. Colgate still beat us deep a couple of times, but with how dominant we were up front, the strategy paid off.
3rd & Long – If you’re looking for a negative, we struggled to get off the field, especially on 3rd & long. Colgate converted 10/19 3rd downs, far more than we’re accustomed to seeing this defense allow. Most frustrating was the Raiders converting 5/9 on 3rd & 10+ yards. Those are situations where our pass rush should be feasting, yet Colgate repeatedly found ways to extend drives. It’s a big reason the Raiders were able to run 75 offensive plays despite how well we performed overall.
Special Teams
Ned Gray had another great afternoon, averaging 46 yards per punt with two going 50+ yards. I’ll wait until each team’s stats are updated online, but Gray is well on his way to All-Patriot League honors.
Kickoff returns didn’t improve. We brought one back for just 15 yards and opted for fair catches on the other two. If that’s what we need to do, then so be it. Starting drives at the 25 is better than what we’ve been getting out of our return game, and frankly, where we’re starting drives is the least of our concerns when it comes to moving the ball.
I’ll be honest, I had my doubts about Kyle Bitsko after another early miss, this time from 38 yards. He’d only been making chip shots (30 yards and in) over the past few weeks, but he responded with makes from 39 and 40 yards. Aside from his 49-yard game-winner against Georgetown, those were his longest makes of the season. Hopefully, that’s the kind of afternoon that helps him regain some confidence and finish the season strong.
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2026 — Game 9: Holy Cross Preview – Friday, October 30th
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