University of Richmond Athletics
No. 23 Spiders Look For Fifth-Straight Win Saturday At Homecoming
Nov. 1, 2005
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No. 23 Richmond, 5-3 for the first time since 1999, and ranked for the first time since the 2002 season, welcome VMI to UR Stadium for Homecoming. Kickoff against the Keydets, Nov. 5, is set for 3 p.m. The game's radio broadcast can be heard on the Spider Radio Network and at RichmondSpiders.com. Bob Black will handle the play-by-play with former Richmond defensive standout, Jasmonn Coleman, as analyst and Matt Smith on the sidelines.
The Spiders (5-3), 37-31-6 in Homecoming games, are coming off a thrilling 18-15 win over then-ranked No. 17 James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va. The win gave them a five-game conference win streak and a share of the overall lead in the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship race. VMI (3-6) will be looking to snap a three-game losing skid in 2005 and a four-game losing skid to the Spiders dating back to the 1997 season.
Richmond is under the direction of second-year head coach Dave Clawson, who has compiled a seven-year career record of 37-40 and a 8-11 mark in two seasons at Richmond. Cal McCombs is in his seventh season as the Keydets' head coach. McCombs has compiled a seven-year career mark of 16-52, all coming at VMI.
QUICK OUTS...
-- Senior Stacy Tutt is currently fifth on the Spiders' all-time list for pass attempts with 629. He needs 13 more attempts to overtake Charlie Richards (1968-70) in fourth place with 641.
-- Tutt needs 17 passing yards to move into fourth on the Spiders all-time list ahead of Buster O'Brien (1966-68) with 4,424, and 66 passing yards to move into third on the Spiders' all-time list ahead of Charlie Richards (1968-70) with 4,473.
-- Tutt needs 22 yards of total offense to move into third on the Spiders' all-time list ahead of Jimmie Miles (1996-99) with 5,570.
-- Tutt needs to be part of 21 plays (run, pass) to move into third on the Spiders' all-time list ahead of Jimmie Miles (1996-99) with 1,023.
-- Richmond has outscored its opposition 43-24 in the fourth quarter and 32-26 in the third quarter, In comparison the opposition has outscored the Spiders 30-27 in the first quarter and 79-49 in the second quarter.
-- Sophomore Sherman Logan has recorded a sack in each of the last six games, and a tackle-for-loss in each of the last seven. His 0.94 sacks per game ranks first in the conference and is tied for ninth in the country.
-- The Spiders have given the ball away seven times in the last five games, but have limited opponents to just six points off those turnovers. In those same five games Richmond has taken the ball away eight times and scored 21 points off the turnovers.
-- Richmond's defense has garnered three or more sacks in each of the last four games. In each of those four games the total number of yards lost by way of sacks has been 20 or more yards, the most coming against Villanova (4 for 31 yards).
-- Senior Joseph Fore has hit at least one field goal in each of the last seven games he has played. Currently he leads the A-10 in field goals per game and ranks sixth in the country with his average of 1.67.
RICHMOND-VMI SERIES
The Richmond-VMI series began Nov. 10, 1893, when the Spiders fell to the Keydets in Lexington, Va., 34-0... The Spiders did not record a score in the all-time series until the fifth meeting (W, 6-4), then went on to post just 18 points combined in the next 14 meetings... The Spiders have won the last four by an average score of 42-10... Going back further the Spiders have taken 15 of the last 18... Richmond has won the last five meetings played at UR Stadium, dating back to 1991... After posting 12 wins over the first 49 meetings, the Spiders have won 25 times in the last 32 meetings all-time.
A QUICK LOOK AT VMI
The VMI Keydets come into Saturday's game looking to snap a three-game losing skid and a four-game skid at the hands of the Spiders. After winning two-straight Big South Conference games at Liberty and Charleston Southern, the Keydets dropped a road game at Wofford then fell in overtime to Big South foe Gardner-Webb and later to a 13th-ranked Coastal Carolina squad. Quarterback Jonathan Wilson is averaging 184.3 yards a game through the air with a completion percentage of 63.7. Nat Jackson has seven TD's on the ground and averages 64.0 yards a game for an offense clipping at 4.7 yards per play. Middle linebacker Justin Huggard leads the squad with 110 tackles in nine games which ranks fourth in the country. His 9.5 tackles for loss also lead the team while defensive end Eric Hall's five sacks are a team best.
A RICHMOND WIN WOULD...
-- Give the Spiders a 6-3 mark for the first time since the 1992 season.
-- Mark the longest win streak for the Spiders since winning seven-straight in 2000.
-- Give head coach Dave Clawson his first six-win season at Richmond.
-- Make the Spiders 5-5 at home under Clawson.
-- Make the all-time series with VMI 40-38-5, in favor of the Keydets.
-- Up the Spiders' record to 27-21-3 against the Keydets when playing in Richmond.
-- Extend the Spiders' win streak to five games in the all-time series.
-- Mark Richmond's sixth-straight win in the series when playing in Richmond.
-- Move Clawson's marks to 38-40 as a head coach and 99-86-1 in his coaching career.
-- Give Clawson his second-straight win all-time against VMI and make his record 2-0 against the Keydets.
-- Give the Spiders an all-time record of 446-588-53.
A RICHMOND LOSS WOULD...
-- Give the Spiders a 5-4 mark for the first time since the 1999 season.
-- Snap Richmond's current four-game win streak.
-- Make the Spiders 4-6 at home under head coach Dave Clawson.
-- Make the all-time series with VMI 41-37-5, in favor of the Keydets.
-- Drop the Spiders' record to 26-22-3 against the Keydets when playing in Richmond.
-- Snap Richmond's four-game win streak in the all-time series.
-- End the Spiders' five-game win streak in the series when playing at Richmond.
-- Give Clawson a mark of 37-41 as a head coach and 98-87-1 in his coaching career.
-- Drop Clawson to 1-1 against the Keydets in his coaching career.
-- Give the Spiders an all-time record of 445-589-53.
TIME OF POSSESSION -- BALL HOGS
Some might say the best defense can be your offense. In Richmond's case that is somewhat true. The Spiders' offense is helping rest and rejuvenate the defense by holding onto the ball and sustaining long and timely scoring drives. In the last three games the Spiders have had eight scoring drives of three minutes or longer and five which have lasted longer than 4:30 seconds. In the fourth quarter against Hofstra, the Spiders had two touchdown scoring drives of 6:18 and 4:58, which allowed the Pride to have the ball just 4:03 in that quarter. Last week the Spiders held onto the ball for a drive of 6:36 in fourth quarter, which led to the Spiders' final touchdown of the game. Richmond is averaging scoring drives of 60.1 yards over its last three games. That average includes six drives of 74-or-more yards. Currently the Spiders rank seventh in the Atlantic 10 overall in time of possession, but are third in A-10-only games. For more on the Spiders' scoring drives take a look at page 14 of the notes.
SACK-MASTER LOGAN
Sophomore Sherman Logan is on a pass-sacking tear. The Virginia Beach, Va., native, who missed all of last season with a serious neck and back injury, leads the team and A-10 in sacks per game. His total of 7.5 sacks gives him an average of 0.94 per game. His 5.5 sacks in A-10 play are tops among the league and lead to an average of 0.92 in league games. His overall average is tied for ninth in the country. The defensive lineman has also recorded a sack in each of the last six games for the Spiders.
SPIDERS ARE RANKED
Richmond appeared in The Sports Network Top-25 Monday for the first time since Sept. of 2002. Ranked No. 23, the Spiders join No. 2 New Hampshire, No. 8 UMass and No. 16 William & Mary as the only teams for the Atlantic 10 in the poll. The last time the Spiders cracked the Top-25, they picked up a 15-13 win over No. 9 Delaware, then had a bye week. Following the bye week, Richmond was ranked No. 22 and eventually fell back out of the poll with a 17-7 loss to No. 7 Furman.
SPIDERS WIN THE TOSS -- AND WIN THE GAME, AGAIN
For the fourth time in the Clawson era the Spiders won the coin toss and went on to win the game. In Clawson's 19 games as the Spiders' head coach, only four times has his team got to select if it wanted to defer, receive, kick or defend a goal, and all four times the Spiders have won the contest. The first time Richmond got the selection after the coin flip, in the Clawson era, came at Maine, Sept. 17. Since then it has got the choice after the flip against Villanova, Hofstra and James Madison. Against Delaware, when Richmond served as the visiting team, the Spiders got the call wrong, but still won the game.
DABNEY NAMED ATLANTIC 10 SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The Richmond, Va., native was named the conference's Special Teams Player of the Week after blocking a third quarter punt in Richmond's 18-15 win at 17th-ranked James Madison, Saturday.
Dabney, who has now blocked two kicks in as many games, came off the end to stop one of JMU's five punts Saturday. Dabney blocked the punt at the Spiders' 47-yard line, and gave the Spiders the ball at the JMU 33-yard line after recovering it. The Spiders then went on a 3-play 33-yard scoring drive to take the lead 12-7.
The Hermitage High School graduate also had a pivotal block in the Spiders' win against Hofstra two weeks ago. Dabney came off the end to halt a Pride punt with less than 30 seconds to play in the game. The junior's efforts helped give the Spiders the ball back in field goal range with two seconds left in regulation. The field goal attempt failed, but Richmond went on to win the game 43-37 in double-overtime.
HE IS GETTING IT THROUGH THE UPRIGHTS
Senior Joseph Fore is among the nation's Top-10 in field goals per game. His average of 1.67 per game ranks sixth best in the nation and is tops in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Since replacing Carter Ball in the kicking duties, Fore has hit at least one field goal in every game, including season-bests of two against Maine, Vanderbilt, Delaware and James Madison. Fore is also among the Top-10 in the league in scoring with 7.2 points per game. His scoring average ranks 52nd in the nation.
SPECIAL TEAMS ARE TRULY SPECIAL
Three blocks, 1.67 field goals a game, 39.6 yards per punt, 21.8 yards a kickoff return. Richmond's special teams are getting the job done. Head Coach Dave Clawson has praised special teams coordinator Joseph Fore has put 11 of his 31 kicks into the endzone. The punting team is 14th in the country with a net yardage of 35.3, while senior punter Chris Radford's 39.6 yards a punt rank 32nd in the nation.
NOTES FROM THE JAMES MADISON GAME...
-- Matt Hale's 51-yard catch at the end of the first quarter marked his longest of the season.
-- Joseph Fore 23-yard field goal with 14:05 left in the second quarter snapped a streak of two-straight misses dating back to the Hofstra game.
-- Stacy Tutt interception with just under six minutes remaining in the second quarter was his first interception since the Vanderbilt game, Sept. 24.
-- Joe Mallory's interception with 4:27 left in the second quarter was his first of the season and Richmond defense's ninth of the season. It also marked the first interception by the Spiders' defense since the Villanova game, Oct. 8.
-- Damien McCallum's 22-yard kickoff return to open the second half was the first of his career.
-- Sherman Logan five-yard sack with just over six minutes remaining in the third quarter marked his sixth-straight game with a sack and seventh-straight game with a tackle-for-loss.
-- Anthony Dabney's blocked punt with 6:17 left in the third quarter marked his second-straight game with a block.
-- Tim Hightower's 19-yard touchdown run with 4:37 left in the third quarter marked his second-straight game with a rushing touchdown.
-- Hightower's 19-yard scamper gave him a career-high in rushing yards with 89. His previous best was 73 against Villanova, Oct. 16, 2004.
-- Richmond's failed two-point conversion try with 4:37 left in the third quarter was its second failed attempt this season. The Spiders went for two against UMass and had their pass intercepted Sept. 1.
-- Hightower's 119 yards mark the first time the Spiders have had a rusher with more than 100 yards since David Freeman rushed for 116 against Lafayette, Sept. 10. His total is also the highest single-game rushing output for the Spiders this season.
-- John Crone's 3 catches equal mark a career-high in single-game receptions.
-- Hightower's 1-yard touchdown with 9:13 left in the game was his second of the game and mark a career-best in a single-game. It is also the first time this season the Spiders have had a single player rush for more than one touchdown in a game.
-- JMU's two-point conversion with 5:05 remaining in the game marked the first successful two-point conversion by a Richmond opponent since Anthony Cottrone of Maine had a successful rushing attempt, Oct. 9, 2004.
-- The win gave the Spiders a 5-3 mark for the first time since the 1999 season.
-- The win gave the Spiders a 5-1 mark in the Atlantic 10 for the first time since the 2000 season.
-- The win made the Spiders 15-32 against ranked opponents dating back to 1995.
-- The win marked the third consecutive win over a ranked opponent.
-- The win marked the first five-game conference win streak for the Spiders since the 2000 season.
-- The win gave head coach Dave Clawson his first five-win season at Richmond.
-- The win made the Spiders 4-6 on the road under Clawson.
-- The win made the all-time series with James Madison 13-10, in favor of the Spiders.
-- The win upped the Spiders' record to 6-5 against the Dukes when playing in Harrisonburg.
-- The win snapped the Dukes' two-game win streak in the all-time series.
-- The win marked Richmond's first win over James Madison since the 2002 season, and the first win against JMU in Harrisonburg since the 2001 season.
-- The win moved Clawson's marks to 37-40 as a head coach and 98-86-1 in his coaching career.
-- The win gave Clawson his first win all-time against James Madison and make his record 1-1 against the Dukes.
-- The win gave the Spiders an all-time record of 445-588-53.