University of Richmond Athletics
No. 1 Spiders Survive At Delaware: Postgame Notes
09/12/2009 | Football
Sept. 12, 2009
• Richmond won for the first time as the nation's No. 1-ranked since the 1985 season. The Spiders were ranked first for just a week last season, falling on the road at Villanova, 26-20. That No. 1-ranking was the first for Richmond since spending five weeks at the top spot in 1985.
• All-time, the Spiders are 5-2 when playing ranked No. 1.
• The victory extended Richmond's winning streak to 11-straight games to establish a new school record. It also stretched the team's current school-record road winning streak to eight-straight.
• Richmond's last loss was Oct. 11, 2008 to James Madison 38-31 on a last-second punt return. The team's last road loss was Sept. 27, 2008 to Villanova 26-20.
• Richmond has won its last four conference openers.
• Richmond has defeated Delaware in three-consecutive years and four of the past five, trimming UD's lead in the all-time to 18-8.
• Richmond won the time-of-possession battle 34:34-25:46, including a 19:11-10:49 edge in the second half (10:00-5:00 in fourth quarter)
• With 293 yards of total offense in the game (247 pass, 46 run), senior QB Eric Ward became the Spiders' career leader in total offense. Now with 8,081 in his career, he overtook Bob Bleier (7,991 yards) for the record.
• Ward's rushing TD was the 19th of his career, moving him into ninth-place on the Spiders' all-time rushing TDs list.
• In two career games at Delaware Stadium, in front of crowds of 21,187 and 20,800, Eric Ward is 2-0, has thrown for 446 yards, five TDs, one INT and ran for 127 yards.
• Ward was the Spiders' leading rusher with 10 carries for 46 yards and a TD - five of his 10 carries resulted in first downs.
• Ward completed passes to eight different receivers in the game - sophomore WR Tre Gray led the way with six catches for 68 yards and a TD.
• Sophomore WR Donte Boston had three catches for 36 yards - three yards shy of his career high. Senior RB Justin Forte's two catches for 29 yards were career highs.
• The blocked field goal by Kevin Grayson was the first blocked kick of Grayson's career, marked the team's second blocked kick of the season (blocked punt at Duke), and was Richmond's second FG block in the last two seasons (at William & Mary in overtime).
• The 11 tackles by junior LB Patrick Weldon tied a career-high he had previously set twice. His last 11-tackle game was at Appalachian State in the 2008 playoffs.
• Junior DT Martin Parker recorded a sack for the second time in as many games. He now has nine in his career.
• Redshirt freshman S Darryl Hamilton's first career interception helped set up the eventual go-ahead field goal late in the fourth quarter. Hamilton had three tackles and forced a fumble.
• Richmond allowed Delaware to open the scoring with a safety - marking the second-straight week an opponent has gotten its first points on the Spiders with a safety. Until last week at Duke, Richmond had not allowed a safety since the 2001 season.
• Richmond did not record its first rushing first down until the 10-minute mark of the second quarter.
• The Spiders were able to overcome six penalties (45 yards) and three turnovers in the game - interceptions by QB Eric Ward and WR Donte Boston and a muffed punt by Derek Hatcher. The Blue Hens scored 10 points of the Spider turnovers.
Players Mentioned
