University of Richmond Athletics
Eric Ward Earns CAA, National Honors
09/01/2008 | Football
Sept. 1, 2008
SpiderTV: Eric Ward Video Highlights
RICHMOND - Junior QB Eric Ward garnered his second career CAA Football Offensive Player of the Week Award and his first-ever Sports Network National Player of the Week honor, after throwing for a career-high 236 yards and two touchdowns in No. 4 Richmond's 28-10 win at 15th-ranked Elon Saturday.
Ward was 17-of-22 passing with a pair of touchdown tosses and no interceptions for a passer rating of 197.4 - the second-highest of his career. The signal-caller led the Spiders to their seventh win over a Top-25 team (7-1) since the start of 2007, while helping head-coach Mike London to his first career head-coaching victory.
In his career, Ward improved to 7-3 versus Top-25 teams and is a 67.2 percent passer with 16 TDs and six interceptions in those games.
Kevin Grayson's 80-yard TD catch from Ward opened the scoring the first quarter - the longest play for both players and tied for sixth-longest pass play in school history. While Grayson's catch was a quick-strike, Ward also engineered a pair of clock-eating drives that each resulted in touchdowns.
The junior from Atlanta, Ga. had a hand in six of Richmond's eight successful third-down conversion plays - three by rushing and three by passing. He finished the day with 14 carries for 59 yards, having a 56-yard TD run erased by personal-foul penalty behind the play.
Richmond's balanced attack featured a 200-yard passer, a 100-yard rusher (119 by Kevin Grayson's) - the first time that's happened since the Spiders downed No. 11 New Hampshire early last season.
Ward's first career Offensive Player of the Week Award came last season after his four-TD performance in the win at Delaware. Former Spider, now Arizona Cardinal RB Tim Hightower was twice named the National Offensive Player of the Week during his All-American campaign in 2007.
The Spiders remain on the road this Saturday with a national-television game at Virginia. Kickoff is set for 3:45 p.m. ET in Charlottesville on ESPNU.
