University of Richmond Athletics
No. 7 Spiders Open 20th Season Of Atlantic 10 Football
09/25/2006 | Football
Sept. 25, 2006
Richmond Football's Gameday Central
Complete Richmond Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Complete Opponent Game Notes in PDF FormatDownload Free Acrobat Reader
Complete Atlantic 10 Release in PDF FormatDownload Free Acrobat Reader
The seventh-ranked Richmond Spiders will begin their 20th season of Atlantic 10 Football Saturday, Sept. 30, when they host Northeastern at UR Stadium. Kickoff against the Huskies is set for 1 p.m.
Bob Black (play-by-play), former Richmond defensive standout Jasmonn Coleman (analyst) and Matt Smith (sideline) will handle the radio call which can be heard in the Richmond area on ESPN Radio 950 AM and worldwide at RichmondSpiders.com.
The Spiders are coming off a 48-21 win over Bucknell in last week's final non-conference game of the season. Richmond has wracked up a total of 106 points in its previous two games, marking the most-ever points in two consecutive games in school history. The previous two-game best of 103 points dates back to the final two games of the 1943 season with wins over the Norfolk Marines (74-7) and the Charleston Coast Guard (29-6). The Spiders will be looking for their first A-10 season-opening win since the 2002 season when it topped No. 9 Delaware.
Richmond is under the direction of third-year head coach Dave Clawson, who has compiled an eight-year career record of 44-41 and a 15-12 mark in his tenure at Richmond. Rocky Hager is in his third season as the Huskies' head coach. Hager has compiled a 13-year career mark of 99-43-1 and an 8-18 mark in his tenure at Northeastern.
QUICK OUTS...
-- Aside from the Spiders' decision to kneel on the ball at the VMI 1-yard line two weeks ago, Richmond's offense has been perfect in the red-zone. The kneeling play to end the game snapped the Spiders string of consecutive redzone scoring success at 17. The Spiders are 12 of 13 in the redzone this season and have converted on 39 of their last 41 trips.
-- Senior Adam Goloboski has amassed 316 tackles in his four-year career with the Spiders. He needs just seven more stops to appear on Richmond's all-time career tackles list at No. 10 which would tie him with Taylor Lackey at 323.
-- Spider redshirt freshman quarterback Eric Ward will be going against one of his hometown friends, Northeastern's sophomore cornerback Cord Parks. Parks, a Stone Mountain High School grad, played recreational sports with Ward, a SW Dekalb High School grad, since they both were five years old. They faced off against each other once during their prep careers as Parks' Stone Mountain squad, topped SW Dekalb and Ward, 27-24, in overtime midway through the 2004 season.
-- Richmond's offense was very spread-out against Bucknell. The Spiders had eight different players catch a pass, including four with multiple catches. Eric Ward and Levi Brown each had five-plus completions as well as a touchdown pass. Five Spiders carried the ball, including four with five-or-more carries.
-- Senior Ryan Mace is among the Top-3 in the Atlantic 10 in punt return yardage. The McKinney, Texas, native averages 17.5 per return, which is 12th-best in the country. In his career, Mace has returned 42 punts for an average of 9.1 yards, and has a career-long of 40 yards.
RESTED AND READY - AGAIN
A lot was said of the two fourth-quarter goal line stands at Duke to open the season -- they helped the Spiders preserve their first shutout since 2004. A large thanks should go to the offense, which gave the Richmond defense a long rest during the third quarter in Durham, N.C.
The Spider defense spent close to 13 minutes (12:51) on the bench in the third quarter while the offense mounted drives of 3:32 and 9:09 in length, as the final drive lasted 18 plays and 83 yards ending in a field goal.
Over the last two weeks "rested and ready" can be looked at in a different way. The Spider starters on both defense and offense have not played full games since opening the season at Duke. Both units were out of the VMI game by halftime, while in last week's Bucknell game the starters had been subbed in for by the end of the third quarter.
OFF ON THE RIGHT FOOT
True freshman Andrew Howard has kicked off his career with an impressive streak. The Hermitage High School alum (Richmond, Va.) has connected on 15-straight PAT tries as well as four-straight field goal attempts.
Against Bucknell, Howard was 2-for-2 in field goals with career longs of 37, then 42 yards. He scored a total of 12 points kicking against the Bison, a mark which ranks tied for third all-time on the Spiders' single-game kick scoring list.
Two weeks ago, against VMI, Howard tied the school record for PAT's in a single-game with eight. The existing record dates back to Nov. 25, 1920 when W.R. Broaddus hit eight PAT's against Randolph-Macon.
A RICHMOND WIN WOULD...
-- Make the team 4-0 to start the season for the first time since beginning the 1995 season 4-0.
-- Make the Spiders 3-0 at home this season and 9-6 all-time at UR Stadium under head coach Dave Clawson.
-- Give Clawson his first win in an Atlantic 10 opener during his tenure at Richmond.
-- Mark the first win in an Atlantic 10 opener since the 2002 season. The Spiders opened the A-10 season with a 15-13 win over No. 9 Delaware.
-- Move Clawson to 45-41 as a head coach and 106-87-1 in his coaching career.
-- Make Clawson 2-0 in his head-coaching career against Northeastern.
-- Extend the Spiders' win-loss record in the all-time series with the Huskies, 7-5.
-- Push Richmond's record to 4-2 all-time against the Huskies at UR Stadium.
-- Snap the Huskies' three-game win streak in the all-time series.
-- Give the Spiders 12 wins in their last 13 games dating back to a 38-20 win over Villanova, Oct. 8, 2005.
-- Extend the Spiders' regular season win streak to 11 games and their regular season home win streak to eight-straight.
-- Give Richmond an all-time record of 453-589-53.
A RICHMOND LOSS WOULD...
-- Make the Spiders 3-1 on the season for the first time since 2000.
-- Make the Spiders 2-1 at home this season and 8-7 all-time at UR Stadium under Clawson.
-- Move Clawson to 44-42 as a head coach and 105-88-1 in his coaching career.
-- Even the all-time series with the Huskies at 6-6.
-- Extend Northeastern's win streak in the all-time series to four-straight dating back to the 2001 season.
-- Even Clawson's career mark at 1-1 against the Huskies.
-- Snap the Spiders' 10-game regular season win streak, as well as Richmond's seven-game regular season home win streak.
-- Give Richmond an all-time record of 452-590-53.
SPIDER FOOTBALL "ON THE MOVE" IN THE RANKINGS
Richmond Football has now been in The Sports Network I-AA Top-25 for each of the last 10 weeks. The Spiders first appeared at No. 23 in the national poll, Oct. 31, 2005, after topping James Madison, 17-15. Richmond then moved up in the poll each week for the remainder of the season. The Spiders debuted at No. 15 in the 2006 Preseason poll. After its shutout-win over Duke, Richmond jumped to No. 10, then moved up two spots to No. 8 the following week. Last week the Spiders jumped one spot to No. 7. This week Richmond remained at No. 7, marking the first time in the 10-week period the Spiders have not moved in the poll.
DEFENSIVE SUPREMACY
Richmond's defense is among the Top-5 nationally in three major categories including total defense, scoring defense and pass defense. The Spiders' first team defense allowed its first TD of the season in last week's Bucknell game, while the Bison scored two more times late in the game against the second teamers.
The Spiders, third in total defense (192.3 yds/game), trail only Robert Morris and Cal Poly. Defensive Coordinator Russ Huesman's defense is second nationally against the pass (71.3 yds/game) trailing only Cal Poly. The third category in which Richmond ranks among the Top-5 is scoring defense (9.3 points/game). Liberty, Wagner, Cal Poly and San Diego are the four teams in front of the Spiders in scoring defense.
SPIDER SPORTS ON THE WEB
Richmond's official athletics website can be found at www.RichmondSpiders.com. The comprehensive site, which includes releases, photos, biographical sketches, statistics and video highlights as well as audio broadcasts for every Spider Football game, is part of the College Sports Television Network. CSTV currently hosts sites for more than 100 universities, as well as its newest member -- the Atlantic 10 Conference.
OVER THE AIR
Spider football games can be heard live on the Spider Sports Network. The network includes two new radio affiliates for all of Spider Athletics. ESPN Radio 950 AM will carry every Spider Football game in 2006, while The Wolf 93.1 FM will broadcast each the Spiders' scheduled three night games (at Duke, Delaware, at Villanova).
The "Voice of the Spiders" Bob Black, a veteran broadcaster in his 23rd season for the Spiders, will handle the play-by-play.
Former Spider defensive standout Jasmonn Coleman (analyst) will join Black in the booth for his second season with Spider Football. Coleman, a Henrico High School product, played in 42 games on the defensive line for the Spiders during his career. During the 1997 season, as a senior, Coleman tied for the team lead with seven sacks.
Matt Smith reports from the sidelines, offering listeners an all-access field level view of the action and will have the first word from the Spiders and head coach Dave Clawson live from the locker room following the game.
Matt Josephs rounds out the radio team, producing the broadcasts and anchoring the Spider Sportsdesk from the studios of flagship station ESPN Radio 950, keeping listeners up-to-date on Atlantic 10, state, and national college football scores and highlights throughout the day.
NCAA I-AA PLAYOFF RECAP & RANKINGS
Richmond was impressive in their two contests in last season's NCAA I-AA playoff run. The Spiders finished the Championship format ranked among the Top-5 in several categories combining all 16 teams in the field.
In its two games, the Spiders were a perfect 9-for-9 on trips inside the redzone -- one of just four teams in the entire field of 16 to be perfect in the category.
The Spider defense allowed an average of 17 points in its two games during the playoff run, which ranked second among the 16-team field. Only Nicholls State allowed an average of fewer points in its playoff run (14 points in one game).
Richmond's defense allowed opponents a 33 percent success rate on third-down conversions in the NCAA I-AA Championships. Only Texas State had a better opponent third-down conversion figure of 30.6 percent in the 16-team field.
The Spider offense rushed for an average of 223 yards in their two games during the NCAA I-AA Playoffs, ranking fourth among the 16-team field.
The Richmond defense allowed the third-lowest rushing average in the NCAA I-AA Playoffs, at just 147.0 per game.
BIGGER, STRONGER AND SMARTER
The Spiders have not only improved on the field since head coach Dave Clawson first year at Richmond, but also in both the weight room and the classroom.
Since first taking over the program in the spring of 2004, Clawson has talked about the correlation of off-the-field success and program success. The Spiders have done just that, raising the team GPA at least two points in each of the four semesters. The culmination of the success came in the transition from last fall's team GPA of 2.46 to the spring 2006 team GPA of 2.62, a jump of 0.16.
The Spiders have also improved in the weight room. In 2004, Richmond had just 20 players on its roster with a three-lift combined total of 1,000 pounds. In 2005, the Spiders upped the total to 42 players of 1,000 pounds. The improvement happened once again this past off-season, as now 54 players (61 percent of the roster) has a three-lift total of more than 1,000 pounds.
LEFTOVERS FROM BUCKNELL
-- The win made the team 3-0 to start the season for the first time since beginning the 1995 season 3-0.
-- The victory moved the Spiders to 2-0 at home this season and 8-6 all-time at UR Stadium under head coach Dave Clawson.
-- The win gave Clawson his first win over a Patriot League opponent during his tenure at Richmond.
-- The win moved Clawson to 44-41 as a head coach and 105-87-1 in his coaching career.
-- The victory made Clawson 3-3 in his head-coaching career against Bucknell.
-- The win pushed the Spiders' win-loss record in the all-time series with Bucknell to 2-0.
-- The win gave the Spiders 11 wins in their last 12 games dating back to a 38-20 win over Villanova, Oct. 8, 2005.
-- The victory extended the Spiders' regular season win streak to 10 games and their regular season home win streak to seven-straight.
-- The win gave Richmond an all-time record of 452-589-53.
-- The Spiders have now scored 106 points in their last two contests marking the most ever in back-to-back games in school history. The previous best of 103 came in the final two games of the 1943 season.
-- Junior wide receiver Andy Lehatto garnered his first career touchdown with 11:05 left in the fourth quarter then later caught his second career TD-pass with 5:30 remaining in the game.
-- Lehatto also finished the game with a career-best 73 yards receiving.
-- Redshirt freshman Eric Ward scored the first rushing touchdown of his career with 9:48 left in the third quarter.
-- Ward's 65-yard touchdown pass to senior Matt Hale with 4:08 left in the first quarter marked the longest play from scrimmage this season for the Spiders.
-- Junior Andrew Harris garnered the Spiders' first interception of the 2006 season in the third quarter. It marked the third interception of his career.
-- Sophomore Josh Vaughan finished the game with a career-high 88 yards on the ground.
-- Sophomore Levi Brown garnered career-highs in both passing yards (85) and touchdown passes (2).
-- The Spiders scored in all four of their trips inside the redzone, and have now been successful in 39 of their last 41 trips dating back to the 2005 season.
-- Freshman Andrew Howard connected on a career-best 42-yard field goal as the first half came to a close. His 12 points in the game rank tied for the third-best single-game scoring total for kicks in school history. Howard is now 4-for-4 in field goal attempts and 15-for-15 in PAT tries in his career.
