University of Richmond Athletics
This Is Gameweek: Spiders Televised At VMI
Sept. 8, 2004
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UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The middle contest of Richmond's season-opening three-game road stretch takes the Spiders to Lexington for a Noon kick-off with VMI. Saturday's game, the first of three regular-season broadcasts, will be shown on Comcast in the mid-Atlantic region. Richmond defeated VMI 35-25 last fall at UR Stadium and has won three consecutive contests in the series. This week marks the 82nd all-time meeting. VMI leads the overall series 40-36-5. Both teams opened the 2004 season last Saturday against a I-A opponent on its home turf. The Spiders fell 42-0 at NC State, while the Keydets dropped a 42-14 decision at Ohio. INSIDE THE HUDDLE
RICHMOND SPIDERS
Game Notes
Roster
Statistics
VMI KEYDETS
Game Notes
Roster
Statistics
STORYLINES
* Richmond is 3-5 in games following a I-A contest since the 1997 season. The Spiders also followed a I-A game with VMI that fall. The week after losing 26-7 at Virginia (Sept. 13), the Spiders responded with a 56-3 win against the Keydets at UR Stadium.
* The Spiders' last visit to Lexington came on Nov. 9, 1996 when the Keydets won 20-7. Since that game, Richmond has won three straight meetings.
* Richmond is 9-19-2 all-time in Lexington. The Spiders have won four of their past five at VMI.
* Spider quarterback Stacy Tutt made six catches for 54 yards in last fall's contest, a 35-25 Richmond victory. Tutt's 20-yard touchdown from Bryson Spinner with 2:52 remaining gave the Spiders a 10-point advantage.
* Richmond's longest run (Frank Pajaczkowski 93 yards in 1955), kickoff return (Reggie Evans 100 yards in 1979) and punt return (Arthur Jones 92 yards in 1938) came against VMI. The run and kickoff return are tied for the longest in program history.
* Saturday's contest is the first of three scheduled television broadcasts of the season. The Spiders' home opener (Sept. 25) will be televised by the Lafayette Sports Network. Richmond's Oct. 30 game at Hofstra will be produced by the Atlantic 10 Television Network.
* True freshman Tim Hightower led the Spiders with 11 carries against NC State -- all in the second half. He is the first true freshman to play offense in 10 years. Sophomore linebacker Adam Goloboski was the only true freshman to play in Jim Reid's nine years as head coach.
GAME NOTES
Capital City Defense ... Of the 11 defensive starters at NC State, seven are from the Richmond area ... Fifty percent of the defensine line (Ryan Cameron/Mills Godwin and Johnny Campell/Douglas Freeman) and secondary (Stephen Howell/Highland Springs and Joe Mallory/Patrick Henry) and 100 percent of the linebackers (Brian Burnette/Lloyd C. Bird, Anthony Dabney/Hermitage and Lance Gray/Atlee) call Richmond home. Tuck And Run ... In his five career starts at quarterback, junior Stacy Tutt has led the Spiders in rushing four times, including a team-high 30 yards against the Wolfpack (Sept. 4) ... He scampered for a career-high 87 yards in his first collegiate start (at W&M, Nov. 23, 2002) ... Last fall he paced Richmond's rushing attack against UMass (70 yards) and Northeastern (36 yards) while under center. Hometown Hero ... One of the highlights from the opener was the play of back-up middle linebacker Chaz Curtis ... Returning to his hometown, Curtis made a career-high seven tackles and recorded one pass break up. On This Date ... Richmond is 1-3 all-time on September 11 ... The last game on this date was in 1999, a 35-30 loss to Villanova at UR Stadium ... The Spiders' only win on Sept. 11 came in 1993 -- at James Madison (20-13). Against the Big South ... Saturday's contest marks Richmond's second-ever against a Big South member ... The only other time the Spiders faced a team in the Big South was last year's 35-25 victory against VMI at UR Stadium (Oct. 25, 2003). High School Reunion ... Richmond's Ryan Cameron and VMI's Randy Wainman will be on opposite sidelines this Saturday after playing on the same team during their prep career ... The defensive linemen starred for the Mills Godwin Eagles in Richmond's West End ... Cameron earned District Defensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2001.