Students, fans, players say goodbye to UR Stadium

After 81 seasons, it is time to say goodbye to the home of the University of Richmond football program.

When the Spiders take on the College of William & Mary at noon on Saturday, it will be the last time they play a regular-season game at UR Stadium in Carytown. Beginning next season, the team's games will be played on campus at E. Claiborne Robins Stadium.

"It's been, for me, 25, 26 years in that stadium," said Bob Black, assistant athletic director of communications and the university's play-by-play announcer for football and men's basketball. "I'll miss it somewhat nostalgically. There were some great games there."

Some of the Spiders' most special wins, Black said, have come against William & Mary. The fourth-oldest college football rivalry in the country continues on Saturday with the 119th meeting between the two schools. William & Mary leads the all-time series 59-54-5, but Richmond has won four in a row against the school to clinch two conference championships and three NCAA tournament appearances.

"It'll be a great game," coach Mike London said. "I know the atmosphere is going to be exciting with their fans, our fans, last home game - everything that's at stake for this particular game - so I think a good college football game is going to be played."

Both teams enter the game with a 9-1 record - the first time the teams have matched up with 18 combined wins. The winner receives a new trophy called the Capital Cup, instead of the I-64 Trophy, to signify the schools' locations in the two most recent capitals of Virginia. There will also be a Capital Cup Most Valuable Player named after the game.

"It's CAA football at its best," London said. "It's two of the best teams in the conference going at it for a lot on the line."

Although the game is important for both teams in terms of the Colonial Athletic Association championship - the winner gets at least a share of the title - and seeding for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, it is about more than the final score.

It is the last regular-season game for the team's 20 seniors, including the four captains: linebacker Collin McConaghy, offensive lineman Matt McCracken, quarterback Eric Ward and defensive back Seth Williams.

"We sit here watching seniors each year telling us it'll come quickly, and as a younger guy you're kind of always shrugging it off," Ward said.

"But it's my last, our last, regular-season home game and it's going to be very emotional. I think everyone's kind of looking forward to the game, but kind of dreading the fact that it's the last."

It is the last set of game promotions in a season-long recognition of the final season at UR Stadium. Fans will receive a "Remembering UR Stadium" commemorative item, which Jana Ross, assistant athletic director of marketing and fan development, said was a ticket lanyard in which to put their game ticket.

Those who attend the game will also have a chance to see all of the football memorabilia the athletic department has collected to commemorate the past 81 seasons of Richmond football. Ross anticipated about six or seven tables of memorabilia.

All football alumni are invited to come back for a pre-game tailgate, and those selected to the 28-member All-UR Stadium Team - which includes 22 Richmond Athletics Hall of Fame inductees - will be introduced at halftime.

"We had almost 60,000 votes," Athletic Director Jim Miller said. "We took those votes and kind of looked at it and had a committee that selected a team. It's been real positive."

Ross said there had been a great response of football alumni registering for the pre-game tailgate and a good majority of the all-stadium team had said they would come.

"We didn't really know how many votes we would get [for the All-UR Stadium Team]," Ross said. "We were very pleased with the voting and how people got into it. ... What has been an even more exciting process is actually getting to call these gentlemen and talking to them and seeing how honored they are that they would be considered. A lot of them are very humbled."

Black, who has also been in touch with some of the members of the All-UR Stadium Team, said their reaction and response had been overwhelming. He said they were absolutely ecstatic, flabbergasted, honored and couldn't wait to come back to be a part of the last game.

Another final-season tradition that will continue on Saturday is the banner countdown of the number of games left. Football alumni have been removing banners at the end of the third quarter, and on Saturday, the final one will come down.

"From a promotion and marketing standpoint, I couldn't really ask for anything else," Ross said. "If you would have asked me at the beginning of the year the vision I would have for this game, it's pretty much coming right down the pipe."

Ross also said student groups had organized shuttle buses to take students to the game. There were buses to the Homecoming game against Villanova University, which resulted in a record number of 1,650 students among the 11,667 attending the game.

Mike DeGeorge, assistant athletic director of public relations, said average student attendance had increased 33 percent from last year, and overall average attendance had increased 20 percent from 2008 and 40 percent from 2007.

Miller said the increase in student attendance was encouraging. He had been expecting more students to come when the stadium moved on campus and said he was glad the trend had begun even earlier.

Ross noticed that students had not only come in greater numbers, but also with more enthusiasm and energy in the stands. She said she hoped to have the largest attendance of the season on Saturday; Miller projected as many as 12,000 or 13,000 fans would come to see the final game.

Black said he was pleased to see how enthusiastic fans had been about the final season.

"If we hadn't had the positive reaction of the people, it wouldn't have worked," he said. "We're all just looking forward to doing things for the new stadium. That's where we're headed, moving forward, but it really has been a great pause to look back at what is our football history for the last 81 years. ... I'll smile when I see UR Stadium in the rearview mirror for the last time."

Contact staff writer Barrett Neale at barrett.neale@richmond.edu