University of Richmond Athletics
The Sporting News Tabs Richmond Football Its Preseason No. 1 For 2009
May 20, 2009
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - When the Richmond Football team kicks off the 2009 season on Sept. 5 at Duke, the Spiders will debut where they ended 2008 - as the Football Championship Subdivision's No. 1-ranked team. The Richmond Times-Dispatch first reported the story in Wednesday's edition.
The Sporting News annually unveils the entire FCS preseason poll in its College Football Preview edition, which hits newsstands this summer. The Times Dispatch also reported that The Sporting News projects another strong CAA crop. Counting Richmond, which returns 18 of 24 starters, there are five CAA teams among the top 12. Four of them are South Division members.
The Spiders won the 2008 Division I Football National Championship and were ranked No. 1 in each of last season's final major FCS polls under first-year head coach Mike London. Richmond also spent one week during the 2008 regular season ranked No. 1 (Sept. 22) - its first top-billing during the season since 1985.
Never before had Richmond ended or began a season ranked first.
Now you can stay in touch with Richmond Football anytime by following the Spiders at twitter.com/Spider_Football. Updates on the National Champs will be posted on Twitter throughout the summer and will continue more frequently once the 2009 season begins.