The Spiders fly to Worcester, MA, for a Halloween battle against a red-hot Holy Cross Crusaders squad, looking to remain atop the Patriot League standings.
Holy Cross Crusaders
After a disappointing 3-9 campaign in 2025, it didn’t look like 2026 would be any different for Holy Cross. The Crusaders started 0-4, including two Patriot League losses, but have won three of their last four to climb within one game of 1st place. They’re starting to figure things out offensively, scoring 30+ points in three straight Patriot League games. I’ll continue to repeat myself — we cannot expect a flawless defensive effort to keep winning us games. With the Crusaders still struggling to stop opposing QBs, this needs to be the game where our passing attack finally clicks and the offense finds some rhythm.
Holy Cross is also the attendance king of the Patriot League, averaging nearly 14,000 fans so far in 2026. That’s a larger crowd than we’re accustomed to seeing at the FCS level, so I’m excited to make the trip north and see how the Spiders respond to a bigger road-game atmosphere.
Odds
Richmond sits as a 2.5-point favorite, with a total of 41.5. Projected score is Richmond 22, Holy Cross 19.
Two-Deep
Devin Geronomi is listed at strong safety, but we’ve been deceived by the two-deep before. Without a green light from Coach Huesman in Wednesday’s press conference, I’ll wait and see. Jordan Allen is the obvious replacement if #22 can’t go, but the bigger concern is what that does to our 3rd-down packages. If Allen has to remain at safety rather than sliding down to linebacker, we lose some of the flexibility that made our defensive looks so effective against Colgate.
Spiders on Offense
The Holy Cross defense has played well against weaker competition but struggled against better opponents. Facing Bucknell and William & Mary, the Crusaders allowed just 17 combined points. Against stronger competition (Lehigh, Colgate, and Yale), they surrendered 35+ points each time. They’ve been much better against the run, which isn’t an encouraging sign for a UR rushing attack coming off one of its worst performances. However, their struggles in the secondary could offer some much-needed relief for our passing game.
Running game — Colgate shut down our rushing attack last weekend, and tomorrow’s challenge doesn’t get any easier. Colgate has allowed the fewest rushing TDs in the Patriot League, while Holy Cross has allowed the second-fewest. Giving up just 3.8 YPC, the Crusaders figure to make it another tough day for the UR ground game. I’d like to see us attack the edges more, but when you’re not 100% healthy at LT or TE, it’s understandable why we’ve leaned on running between the tackles. Even something as simple as mixing in a Donovan Higgins pop-pass could get the defense moving horizontally and potentially open up more room in the A/B gaps. If our RBs manage just 43 yards again, it’s going to be another long day for the offense.
Passing game — How can the Spiders find some rhythm through the air? There were flashes of what this offense is capable of during the four-play touchdown drive against Colgate. Snelsire’s 25-yard flag route to Veney had great touch, and his 16-yard touchdown pass to Fair was on time, in rhythm, and perfectly placed away from the safety. Those were two of his better throws of the afternoon, and they highlighted something about Ashten: his confidence and rhythm seem to come more from connecting on bigger throws than simply stringing completions together.
Consider the Fordham game. In the 2nd half, #18 completed eight consecutive passes, his longest streak of the season. Yet those eight completions produced just 27 yards across three drives, none of which resulted in points. Completing passes is obviously important, but there’s a difference between moving the chains and simply adding completions to the stat sheet. Based on what we’ve seen in 2025 and 2026, I think finding success further downfield is a big part of getting Snelsire comfortable.
The Colgate game brought one particular issue into focus: the lack of big-play production from our outside receivers. Through eight games, Snelsire is 14/52 (27%) on throws traveling 16+ yards downfield. But when you break those attempts down by receiver, the difference between our slot and outside receivers is hard to ignore.
Looking at the six receivers on the travel squad, Veney and Fair have combined for seven catches on 14 targets, compared with just three catches on 27 targets for Allen, Hill, Rice, and Higgins. That doesn’t account for the pass interference calls our outside receivers have drawn, which certainly matter, but the disparity in completed passes is hard to overlook.
Andreas Hill going without a single downfield reception on nine targets is particularly striking. There’s clearly plenty of room for improvement, but I’m not convinced there’s one obvious solution. Maybe it’s getting our outside receivers more involved over the middle or on shorter routes, ensuring we target Veney and Fair downfield more often, or increasing targets for TEs Clarke and Derey to help create space elsewhere. This late in the season, everyone has an opinion on what needs to change, and I won’t pretend my answer is any better than yours. Whatever the solution, this is a glaring statistical weakness for a receiving corps that has more than enough talent to be producing better results.
Spiders on Defense
The Crusaders’ offense got off to a slow start but has rebounded nicely throughout October. In their first four games, they averaged just 13.75 PPG — over their last four, that number has jumped to 30 PPG. The biggest difference has been the running game. While Holy Cross has some of the best passing numbers in the Patriot League, a resurgent ground attack has fueled its recent winning streak. RB Joseph Williams, the Patriot League’s third-leading rusher, has led that charge. In their first four FCS games, the Crusaders averaged 105 rushing YPG and 240 passing YPG. Over their last three FCS contests, those numbers have essentially flipped — 205 rushing YPG and just 156 passing YPG. That’s a team that’s figured out how it wants to move the ball, and stopping an offense that’s found its identity will be a difficult challenge for our defense.
Defensive Line – Holy Cross allows the fewest sacks per pass attempt in the Patriot League (one sack every 31 attempts). That’s an extremely impressive number, and combined with their recent rushing success, it speaks to how well their O-line has been playing.
For Richmond, the D-line snap counts have leveled off a bit as the season has progressed. Early on, we saw multiple starters playing 85%+ of snaps, so I’m glad to see Lassiter, Byrd, and Sellers all closer to 75%. Even with the slightly reduced workload, all four starters continue to make a major impact on this defense.
Braxton Lassiter is the 2nd-highest-rated pass-rushing DT, an impressive accomplishment given how valuable interior pressure is and the fact that he’s playing 78% of our defensive snaps. TJ Baldwin remains an anchor alongside him, recording at least half a TFL in seven of eight games. Among FCS defensive ends with 300+ snaps, Daniel Sellers ranks 5th overall (pass rush, run D, tackling), while sitting 2nd in the Patriot League with 7.5 sacks.
And of course, Cam Byrd continues to lead the conference with 9.5 sacks while closing in on two Richmond records. He’s just 4.5 sacks away from tying the single-season record and five away from tying the career record. With four games remaining in the regular season, both records are well within reach.
Ty Curran – Holy Cross’ top receiver is #3 Ty Curran, who has 381 receiving yards and six TDs this season. The 5’11” receiver lines up in the slot 89% of the time, with nearly half his receiving yards coming after the catch. This is where the Spiders will lean heavily on our own #3, Tay Burney. After missing a few games, Burney looked back to full strength against Colgate and will likely spend plenty of time matched up with Curran. Whether he’s running the seam or catching short passes and attacking the edge, Curran presents a variety of challenges, and we’ll need Burney at his best to keep him in check.
Turnovers – For the 4th straight game, the UR defense forced multiple turnovers. I didn’t have to look too far back to find the last time that happened (October–November 2024), another example of how disruptive Coach Wood’s defenses have been. However, if the Spiders can force two more turnovers against Holy Cross, it’ll mark our first five-game streak of multiple takeaways since 2012.
Special Teams
Ned Gray continues his excellent 2026 campaign, averaging 44 yards/punt with 11 punts of 50+ yards and 17 downed inside the 20. Somehow even more impressive, his sidewinding punts have helped force four turnovers in just eight games. Richmond has recovered three muffed punts, plus another that bounced off a Fordham player. I’m sure our game plan doesn’t involve recovering a muffed punt every other game, but it is fun to see just how impactful a good punter can be.
While KOR continues to be a struggle, KOC has been anything but. The Spiders rank 1st in the Patriot League in net kickoff yardage. Jackson Bonser has just five touchbacks on the year, but his solid hang time paired with our excellent coverage has been a winning combination. This is one area where we’re really seeing the new 5-for-5 rule come into play. In the past, the Spiders typically relied on a handful of defensive starters to cover kicks. Now, we’re seeing a great blend of experience and freshmen. Veterans Brendan Laughlin and Jordan Wilkes remain staples of the unit, while newcomers Matt Jones, Ty Harris, Matt Holland, and Quintin McCray were all covering kicks last weekend.
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2026 — Game 9: Holy Cross Recap – Monday, November 2nd
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