Richmond’s road woes continue as the Spiders get walloped by Villanova, ending any hopes of a Patriot League title or playoff appearance.

Game Thoughts

It’s amazing how quickly a season can turn. One month ago, the Spiders were 5-1, just a few days away from a road trip to Fordham. A win would keep us in the driver’s seat for a playoff appearance, heading into a much-needed bye week with multiple starters set to return. Fast forward to today, and we’ve suddenly dropped three of our last four and are officially eliminated from playoff contention. Hearing Coach Huesman reference that seniors will be playing their final collegiate games over the next two weeks was a gut punch. I don’t mean to turn this into a season recap, but seeing the Spiders enter the Patriot League and immediately start a new playoff drought is extremely concerning.

For me, Villanova has always been our best measuring stick. William & Mary has nowhere near the history or success that we do. While I’ll always love that rivalry and hate the Tribe, I’ve always felt comparisons to Villanova, a program in a very similar spot to us, are best. In every phase of the game on Saturday, we didn’t stand up to that measuring stick, falling woefully short in many aspects. If the 7-5 season in 2025, or even some earlier losses in 2026, didn’t make it clear where we stand, this past weekend sure did.

Penalties – “The thing that I’m disappointed about is the undisciplined things that happen out there – the personal fouls, the unsportsmanlike conduct fouls – that’s not us.”

Here’s the problem – if you keep having to talk about it, then it is who we are. For two seasons now, the Spiders have continued to rack up unnecessary penalties, and unfortunately, that’s who we are right now. The first thing I mentioned in my 2025 season recap was the need to leave the penalties behind, but 2026 has been more of the same.

Offense

As always, I’m trying to not be redundant, but we’re making that basically impossible. Even less production from the offense this week, never threatening in the 1st half (20 total yards) and finding the redzone just once in the 2nd half.

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The box score is nasty. 80 yards rushing. 60 yards passing. Zero points. This past weekend extended some troubling trends from recent weeks.

It’s been seven quarters since we scored. Holy Cross shut us out the final three quarters and Villanova blanked us for all four. In our past four games, we have four total offensive TDs. It’s also now been over a month since the offense scored in the 2nd half (Oct. 3rd @ Lafayette). No matter how you slice it, we’re levels behind our competition and completely outmatched.

What’s equally concerning is how we’re countering these struggles. We’ve seen Aziz in the Wildcat the past two weeks, a wrinkle that might have caught defenses off guard about 15 years ago. We also ran Callaghan plenty on designed runs between the tackles. When the going gets tough, the Spiders love reverting to inside QB runs, which we’ve learned from prior seasons is not a sustainable approach. Jack ran the ball well, but that’s a lot of added mileage on our QB with nowhere near enough reward. The irony wasn’t lost on me that our final offensive play was a failed 4th-and-1 on a QB power.

Running Game – 10 carries for 26 yards from the running backs continues to be a disappointment. The difference between our O-line and Villanova’s was glaring, both in athleticism and the ability to generate a push up front. Villanova could run the stretch, pull linemen to attack different gaps, all while still consistently winning between the tackles. The Spiders’ run game continues to be very straightforward and opposing defenses are showing how easy that is to stop. Unless you’re dominant enough to run right at teams, there has to be variety in the run game, and right now it seems we don’t have the capabilities for either. Aziz continues to run hard and earn the extra yardage, but there’s only so much he can do with such little room.

Jack Callaghan – I imagine #6 earned the respect of a lot of people on Saturday. The end result was bad, but even Kyle Lauletta wouldn’t have won us that game. Jack showed off the big arm, good mobility, and incredible toughness. Whether it was standing in the pocket and taking hits on big throws or running right at the Villanova defense, his toughness was clear in his first real game.

In my eyes, this is the scariest passing chart of the season. The Spiders lived on the sidelines, rarely using the full field in the passing game. This is where our passing game fails to complement our rushing approach. Whether it’s the run setting up the pass or vice versa, the two need to play off each other. Running inside while almost exclusively throwing outside the numbers makes us easy to defend. Rewatching the game, there continues to be little separation from our WRs. I thought Jack put a few throws in great spots, but you can only do so much when no one is open. For yet another week, the opposing secondary never seemed fooled by anything we did downfield.

And for the second consecutive game, where we’re throwing the ball is hard to understand. Tight ends Sean Clarke and Carson Derey – zero targets. Bryce Allen drew a pass interference over the middle, but his other five targets were all quick throws outside the left numbers. Effectively relegating Bryce to a sideline receiver, while not even trying to get Clarke and Derey involved, is just another puzzling example of the UR offense devolving.

Defense

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For the second straight week, the UR defense allowed a ton of yards and sustained drives. Offense is easy when you dominate on the ground, and the Wildcats did just that, rushing for 238 yards at nearly 5 YPC. Villanova averaged 8 plays/drive and 47 yards/drive, methodically staying on schedule and running 21 more plays than we did. We did well on a few drives to hold them to field goals, but their offense spent most of the day on our side of the field.

With Holy Cross rushing for 323 yards last week, the Spiders have now allowed over 500 rushing yards in two games, something we haven’t seen against consecutive FCS opponents since 2018. Given all our early-season success, the defensive collapse over these past two weeks has been shocking.

Surprisingly, this wasn’t a 3rd down problem. Richmond allowed 5/12 3rd down conversions, nothing crazy. Where the Wildcats really won was on early downs. They averaged 5.2 yards/play on 1st down and 8.7 yards/play on 2nd down. There’s simply no stopping an offense that’s consistently picking up that kind of yardage on early downs, and it showed. Failing to force 3rd-and-long situations played right into their hands, as we were rarely able to pin our ears back and go after McQuaide. Right now, if we can’t let our pass rush feast, we can’t slow down good offenses.

Daniel Sellers was out for the second straight game, and his absence was noticeable. Nova burned us on a couple of QB reads that you’d like to think Sellers would’ve played better, plus he would’ve offered stronger resistance on the edge in run support. Again, no one was changing the outcome of that game, but for the second straight week, there were a handful of plays where #47 was desperately needed.

Coverage – Villanova’s passing chart is almost the exact opposite of ours, and it highlights exactly what a good offense does. They attacked the entire field, particularly over the middle, forcing our defenders to make decisions rather than allowing them to key on one area. With Richmond frequently bringing extra defenders to stop the run, Villanova exploited the space we left behind, getting the ball out quickly and finding easy completions underneath.

The difference in how these two passing attacks operate was glaring. Villanova WRs totaled 160 receiving yards, with nearly half of that production (79 yards) coming after the catch. Richmond’s WRs managed just 5 YAC all afternoon. Villanova made life easier on its QB by getting the ball out quickly and finding receivers in space. Five-yard completions turned into gains of 15+ yards, putting pressure on our defense to make plays in the open field. Their passing game worked perfectly with their rushing attack, stretching our defense in every direction and forcing defenders into difficult decisions for all 60 minutes.

Special Teams

Kyle Bitsko handled the opening kickoff instead of Jackson Bonser. Bonser was dressed, so I’m not sure whether this was a one-time change or something we’ll see moving forward.

It was Ned Gray’s “worst” afternoon of the season, averaging just 40 yards/punt. He lost some potential yardage on a couple of punts when our coverage team touched the ball too early, but he also wasn’t striking it as cleanly as we’re accustomed to seeing. At the end of the day, he’s the least of our problems.

Next Post

2026 — Game 11: Lehigh Preview – Friday, November 13th