University of Richmond Athletics
No. 18 Richmond 38, Rhode Island 6 - Postgame Notes
10/21/2007 | Football
Oct. 21, 2007
Richmond head coach Dave Clawson coached his 100th career game on Saturday and improved his nine-year record to 52-48. Clawson is 23-19 in his fourth year at Richmond, but is 20-11 since 2005.
The Spiders are 8-4 when playing as a ranked team at home since 2005 and 33-23 overall when ranked (Sports Network poll) since 1993.
The Spiders are now 3-0 at home this season, averaging 41.7 points/game and winning by an average margin of 27 points. The Spiders have not allowed a touchdown at home since the fourth quarter of the New Hampshire game on Sept. 29.
Under Clawson, Richmond improved to 16-0 when scoring 30 points or more, 16-4 when scoring first and 20-2 when leading at the half.
The Spiders are now 24-for-24 since 2005 producing points on drives of 80 yards or longer. Richmond's second possession of the game went 84 yards in 10 plays, resulting in a Tim Hightower TD catch. Of the 24 drives, 22 have produced touchdowns.
Richmond kept its second-consecutive opponent out of the end zone and has not allowed a touchdown since Towson's last-second TD on Oct. 6.
Richmond played its second consecutive game without a turnover and penalized just twice.
The defense dropped Rhode Island for 16 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, totaling 65 lost yards. Six of those were sacks for 40 lost yards. The Rams were forced to punt nine times and converted just two their 17 third-down attempts.
Walter Payton Award candidate Tim Hightower extended his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown to eight, dating back to the final game of last season. He caught a 12-yard pass, putting Richmond on top 10-0 midway through the first quarter.
Hightower carried the ball 19 times for 96 yards, snapping his string of five-straight games over 100-yards on the ground. But he made his impact felt in other ways, finishing as the game's leading receiver with four catches for 45 yards and a TD.
With 74 yards rushing on seven carries, sophomore QB Eric Ward had his career-high day on the ground. He rushed for a TD and was 11-of-20 passing for 131 yards and a TD. Two of his carries were a career-high 36 yards, followed later by a career-high 40.
Sophomore punter Brian Radford averaged 39.7 yards on his six punts, dropping two inside the 20. He also boomed a 50-yarder. URI's average starting field position was its own 28.
Justin Forte blocked a URI punt in the fourth quarter that was returned 24 yards for a TD by Jonathan Mayfield. It marks the Spiders' fourth blocked kick of the season (two punts) and second blocked punt for TD in as many seasons (Michael Ireland vs. Northeastern).
Andrew Howard remains perfect in his collegiate career in the extra-point department, having converted a school-record 65 in a row (five Saturday). With eight points in the URI game, he now stands fifth all-time at Richmond in points scored by kickers with 119. His 55 points this season ranks fifth.