University of Richmond Athletics
Postgame Notes: No. 1 James Madison 38, No. 5 Richmond 31
10/12/2008 | Football
Oct. 12, 2008
• The loss to top-ranked James Madison dropped Richmond's record to 4-3 overall, 2-2 in CAA Football and in a dog-fight with five games remaining in the regular season, including games versus Top-25 foes Massachusetts and Delaware.
• Richmond is winless in three meetings versus No. 1-ranked teams (Sports Network poll) since the 2000 season - 34-20 at Montana in the 2000 NCAA Playoffs, 27-17 at New Hampshire in 2006 and Saturday's 38-31 home loss to James Madison.
• The announced attendance of 16,151 Saturday at UR Stadium is the largest since Nov. 21, 1998 when 18,914 passed through the turnstiles to witness the Spiders take down William & Mary, 42-17. The crowd ranked as the 14th-largest all-time for a Richmond Football game at UR Stadium.
• James Madison rallied for 15 points in the final 59 seconds of the game, after Richmond had taken a 31-23 lead on Josh Vaughan's TD run with 3:21 left. The teams combined for 32 points (JMU, 18-14) in the final quarter, which is the most fourth-quarter points since the Oct. 4, 1986 when the Spiders out-scored Boston U. 28-7 in the final quarter in a 56-15 win.
• Richmond's eight-game home-winning streak was snapped with the defeat, a season after the Spiders' broke James Madison's 12-game win streak at Bridgeforth Stadium. Entering Saturday, the Spiders' eight-game win streak at home was seventh-longest active streak in the FCS.
• The road team has been victorious in each of the last five meetings in this series and those five games have been decided by a total of 34 points.
• JMU cut Richmond's lead in the all-time series to 14-12, with Saturday marking the third straight year that both Richmond and James Madison were each ranked in the Top-25 for the meeting.
• Although JMU's 38 points checked in right at its season average (38.3), the Spiders held the Dukes to below its season average for rushing, passing and total offense. JMU was averaging 267.7 yards rushing, but was limited to 226 Saturday.
• Richmond took a 14-13 lead into the halftime locker room, but suffered just its third defeat (30-3) since 2004 when leading at the half. All three of the losses have come to Top-25 teams - No. 1 JMU (2008), No. 1 New Hampshire (2006) and No. 12 Maine (2004).
• The Spiders suffered just their sixth loss since 2005 when scoring first (23-6) and just their second loss since 2005 when scoring 30+ points (23-2).
• With 23 carries for 92 yards and two touchdowns, senior TB Josh Vaughan's became the 11th Spider in school history to rush for 2,000 career yards. Vaughan's career total of 2,063 yards stands 10th in school history.
• Junior QB Eric Ward was 17-of-25 passing for 224 yards with no TDs and no interceptions. Ward, who has now gone five-consecutive games without an interception, has been picked off just twice this season - both coming at Virginia.
• For Ward, it was his eighth-career 200-yard passing game and fifth-consecutive game with a passing-efficiency rating of 143 or better.
• Ward has completed 66.3 percent of his passes this season for 1,422 yards, nine TDs and two interceptions. Richmond's single-season record for completion percentage is 61.8 set by Bob Bleier in 1985.
• Redshirt freshman WR Tre Gray reeled in five catches for a career-high 97 yards. His previous career-best was 67 yards at Villanova.
• Junior SS Michael Ireland was in on a career-high and game-leading 16 tackles (nine solo) and also forced a fumble. Ireland - now tied for the team lead in tackles with 45 - set his previous career-high with 13 stops at Villanova earlier this season.
• Junior K Andrew Howard was good on his only field goal attempt (32 yards), extending his career-long stretch of seven-consecutive field goals without a miss. After having his first three attempts of the season blocked, Howard has made good on seven-straight.
• Howard also drilled all four PAT attempts, improving his mark to a spotless 121-of-121 in his career. The junior now holds the FCS's all-time record for PAT accuracy (100%) and continues to close in the FCS's all-time record for consecutive PATs made of 126.
• The game was broadcast by Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic with Bob Picozzi handling play-by-play duties. The last three Richmond games broadcast by Picozzi have been thrillers - at Towson last season (last-second, game-winning TD pass by Season Shaefer), at James Madison last season (Stephen Howell interception with 58 seconds left seals a 17-16 Richmond win) and Saturday's game that saw JMU score 15 points in the final 59 seconds to win, including the 69-yard punt return for TD by Scotty McGee with one second left on the clock.
