University of Richmond Athletics
No. 1 Richmond Stunned At Home By No. 4 Villanova, 21-20
Nov. 7, 2009
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UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - No. 1 Richmond watched its potential game-winning 35-yard field goal sail wide left in final seconds as the Spiders were stunned on Homecoming by No. 4 Villanova, 21-20, Saturday at UR Stadium. The loss, Richmond's first in more than a year, snapped the second-longest winning streak in college football at 17 games.
Villanova's Brandyn Harvey made a one-handed grab of Chris Whitney's fourth-down pass for a 29-yard touchdown with 59 seconds and the Wildcats (8-1, 5-1) withstood an Eric Ward-led drive that put the Spiders (8-1, 6-1) in position for another win.
Ward, who finished 23-of-35 passing for 297 yards and a touchdown, marched Richmond 59 yards in seven plays to set up senior Andrew Howard's field goal attempt with 10 seconds left. Ward - the holder - corralled a high-snap but Howard pushed the attempt wide left, silencing the Spiders' crowd of 11,667 - its largest of the season.
It was third of three costly special-teams errors by the Spiders in the loss. Howard missed a PAT after a high snap when Richmond seized its first lead of the game on a Kendall Gaskins TD run with 2:22 left in the game. A botched snap on the PAT following Richmond's first TD resulted in no points. Howard also missed a 50-yard field goal on the final possession of the first half.
After trailing 14-6 at halftime, a 70-yard interception return by Patrick Weldon gave the Spiders good field position to start the fourth quarter. Five plays later, Ward cashed the Spiders in by finding Jordan Mitchell for the game-tying two-point conversion.
Gaskins run with 2:22 left in the game capped a nine-play, 62-yard drive that gave Richmond its first lead. But Whitney led Villanova on a 56-yard drive in 80 seconds and found Harvey, who made a dazzling one-handed grab on fourth-and-11, which the 6-foot-4 receiver turned into a 29-yard TD. Nick Yako added the go-ahead PAT.
Whitney finished the game 21-of-34 passing for 277 yards and three TDs. Although Richmond out-gained Villanova 383-361, neither team surpassed the 100-yard mark on the ground.
Gray reeled in six catches for a game-high 92 yards, while Ward posted the second-best passing game of his career and became the Spiders' all-time leading passer. With 8,321 yards in his four-year career, Ward overtook Bob Bleier (8,057) who played for Richmond from 1983-86.
Linebackers Collin McConaghy and Eric McBride each made 10 tackles and Weldon pitched in nine to go along with his career-long interception return.
Richmond was one of just 10 remaining undefeated teams in Division-I football when Saturday began and their streak of 17-straight wins and six-straight home wins was snapped. The reigning National Champions had not lost since James Madison beat the Spiders 38-31 with a last-second punt return on Oct. 10, 2008 -- a winning streak that lasted 393 days.
It also snapped a streak of Richmond scoring 31 points or more in 15-straight home games.
The Spiders return to action next Saturday at Georgetown for their final non-conference game of the regular-season. Kick off is set for 1 p.m. ET.