Live Blog: Richmond hosts William & Mary in CAA title battle

The Spiders kneel and time runs out as Richmond tops William & Mary, winning 20-9. Richmond has guaranteed itself at least a share of the CAA championship as well as a playoff spot. Jacobi Green finished with 225 all-purpose yards and a touchdown and Brian Brown had 101 receiving yards and a score. Kyle Lauletta snapped his recent spell of multiple-interception games, throwing none this game. The Spiders await their fate as Villanova finishes its game against James Madison.

1:00 -- Richmond continues to run the ball as William & Mary doesn't use any of its three timeouts to stop the clock. The game appears to be out of reach barring a bad mistake by the Spiders.

2:36 -- Cluley throws his third interception of the game, this one an underthrown ball picked off by David Herlocker, who returns it 55 yards to the opposing 34-yard line where he's finally brought down. 

3:38 -- William & Mary converts on a fourth down rushing attempt to keep its drive and hopes of winning alive.

5:16 -- Richmond's Andrew Clyde sacks Cluley for a 13-yard loss, but Cluley responds with a bullet pass to Kevin Hart for a 37-yard gain. The Tribe have first down on Richmond's 41-yard line.

6:13 -- The Tribe forces a quick three-and-out and Hellowski's punt is fair-caught on William & Mary's 35-yard line.

7:44 -- Richmond linebacker Trevor Jones breaks up a sure first down pass to give the Spiders the ball back on their own 33-yard line. The Spiders should keep the ball mostly on the ground to keep the clock moving and because Green has been averaging more than six yards per carry.

8:16 -- William & Mary comes up way short on third-and-long. The offense is staying out on the field for fourth-and-eight.

9:32 -- Devonte Dedmon catches his second pass of the game, this one for a 25-yard gain. The Spiders have done a great job keeping the dangerous Dedmon in check, but all it takes is one big play to give the Tribe a chance to come within a field goal.

10:34 -- William & Mary stops Richmond twice in a row in short yardage situations to force fourth down and a punt. Hellowski punts it only 30 yards and the Tribe will start the ensuing drive from the 24-yard line.

12:10 -- The Spiders go right back to Green who rushes for eight and gains his 200th rushing yard of the game.

12:55 -- The threat of Green proves powerful as William & Mary falls hard for some play action, allowing Richmond to pick up another first down.

14:02 -- Richmond keeps handing to Green, who makes the most of his carries, securing another first down. He now has 187 yards on the ground today.

14:45 -- Cluley almost throws his third interception of the game, but it is dropped by a Richmond defender. The Tribe can't convert on third down so it will punt from just behind midfield on fourth.

Through three quarters, the Spiders have a 20-9 lead over the Tribe in this regular season finale. Jacobi Green has rushed for 171 yards and a touchdown and Kyle Lauletta has thrown for 158 yards, two touchdowns and most importantly, no interceptions. The Richmond defense has been very solid thus far, giving up three field goals, but tightening up in the red zone and keeping William & Mary out of the end zone. The Tribe starts the fourth quarter with second down and ten from its own 48-yard line.

1:27 -- Lauletta finds Diggs for a touchdown from 18 yards away. Richmond fails to convert on the two-point conversion so it leads William & Mary 20-9 nearing the end of the third quarter.

1:52 -- Lauletta shows poise in the face of a Tribe blitz and finds Brown for a six-yard gain and another first down.

4:06 -- Following a Green run for a first down, Lauletta converts another third down, this time finding Jacobi Green for eight yards to extend the Spider drive.

5:42 -- On third down with 10 yards to go, Kyle Lauletta doesn't like any of his options and takes off for an 11-yard run to give the Spiders a new set of downs.

6:34 -- Dorka is good on the kick from 22 yards out to bring William & Mary a little closer. The Spiders hold a 14-9 lead, about to receive the kick.

7:15 -- On third-and-three from Richmond's five-yard line, the Spider defense makes a huge stop against the run for no gain thanks to a big tackle from Ayo Ogunniyi.

8:49 -- The Tribe continues its march downfield with two more first downs, getting to the Richmond 12-yard line. Everything is working this drive and the Richmond defense has put up little fight early this quarter.

10:20 -- Two straight rushing first downs put William & Mary on Richmond's 34-yard line approaching the ten-minute mark in the third quarter.

11:39 -- Jacobi Green rips through the line and scores from 12 yards out to extend the Spiders' lead to eight. This marks Green's 15th touchdown of the season. The Spiders lead 14-6 after the extra point.

13:09 -- Brian Brown goes up and grabs a pass away from a William & Mary defender and has an open field ahead of him, but he drops the ball out of bounds. The Spiders maintain possession deep in Tribe territory.

14:50 -- Green picks up eight yards on first down to start the second half. The brings the Spiders to their own 28-yard line and brings Green over 120 rushing yards on the game.

0:00 -- William & Mary's Nick Dorka drills a 51-yard field goal to cut the deficit to one point heading into halftime. The Spiders lead 7-6 and outplayed the Tribe for the majority of the second quarter. Both teams have made mistakes, but neither has been able to consistently capitalize. Green has been the best player in the game so far, rushing for 113 yards on 17 carries. Neither quarterback has eclipsed 100 yards, but Lauletta has minimized mistakes, throwing a touchdown with no interceptions compared to Cluley who has thrown two interceptions but has yet to score. The Spider offense will need to string together good drives downfield if Richmond wants to pull away from William & Mary in the second half.

0:01 -- Cluley takes a shot at the end zone, but the pass is batted away by the Richmond secondary to leave the Tribe with one second on the clock.

0:08 -- William & Mary picks up a quick first down to put the offense on the Spiders' 34-yard line with eight second to play and one timeout remaining.

0:27 -- Catastrophe almost strikes on third-and-27 in the form of a Kyle Lauletta fumble, but he falls on it to give way to fourth down.

0:52 -- Consecutive penalties land Richmond on its own eight-yard line faced with second down and 32 yards to go. The Spiders are trying to run out the clock and avoid catastrophe so that they can go into halftime with the lead.

2:06 -- Jones makes up for his gaffe, intercepting Cluley on the first play of the drive to give Richmond the ball back with just over two minutes to go in the half.

2:24 -- The Spiders decline a holding penalty to give William & Mary fourth down after Cluley's pass to DeVonte Dedmon was dropped. David Jones returns the ensuing punt, fumbles it and can't fall on it, allowing William & Mary to pick it up. The Tribe starts its drive deep in Spiders territory with a short field ahead.

3:54 -- Richmond scores the first touchdown of the game on third-and-goal from the 18-yard line on a pass from Lauletta to wide receiver Brian Brown. Griffin Trau converts on the extra point for the first point of his collegiate career. The Spiders now lead the Tribe 7-3 with just under four minutes remaining in the first half.

3:58 -- The Spiders score on a three-yard pass from Lauletta, but the play is reversed and a 15-yard penalty is added for offensive pass interference to send Richmond back to the 18-yard line.

5:43 -- After a Green run for seven yards, Diggs picks up another first down, beating his man on a screen pass. The Spiders have first-and-goal from the nine.

6:50 -- Diggs catches a pass from quarterback Kyle Lauletta, slips and then gets up and beats his defender, running all the way to the Tribe 23-yard line where he is brought down.

8:35 -- Green rips off 11 yards to give the Spiders a first down from their own 41-yard line. He follows it up with another 11 yards to put the Spiders in William & Mary's side of the field. The Spiders would be wise to keep giving him the ball as the Tribe defense has provided little resistance.

9:33 -- Jacobi Green eclipses 50 yards rushing with a nine-yard gain from scrimmage to give the Spiders second-and-one. He picks up the first down on the next play with a one-yard pickup. Green has 56 rushing yards on only eight attempts for a whopping 7.0 yards per carry.

9:44 -- The mistake proves to be of little consequence as the Spider defense tightens up and forces an incomplete on third-and-eight. A 50-yard punt by William & Mary's Hunter Windmuller pins Richmond back on its own 20-yard line.

11:35 -- A blown tackle by Richmond gives the Tribe another first down as they line up from their own 28-yard line. This is the second costly missed tackle by a Richmond defender in the open field thus far.

14:30 -- After Richmond fails to get the first down, backup quarterback David Broadus punts the ball to the William & Mary five-yard line on fourth down.

At the end of one quarter, the Tribe lead 3-0 as both offenses have struggled thanks to sloppy turnovers, but also solid defensive possessions by both teams. Richmond will start the second quarter with a third and one on the opposing 46-yard line. Jacobi Green leads all players with 46 rushing yards on just six attempts.

0:57 -- The Tribe can't get any offense going and are forced to punt after three downs. The Spiders call for a fair catch, but get hit with a ten-yard penalty for holding, pushing them back to their own 45-yard line to start their third drive of the game.

2:42 -- Richmond picks up a first down, but the Tribe defense forces the Spiders to punt before they can pick up another one. Punter D.J. Hellowski pins William & Mary deep in its own territory, kicking the ball to the nine-yard line, where it is downed by Richmond's special teams unit.

3:46 -- For the second snap in a row, Richmond's defense puts pressure on Cluley, this time forcing him into a bad throw, which is intercepted by linebacker Selton Hodge. The Spiders start the ensuing drive from their own 43-yard line.

7:23 -- Richmond wide receiver Reggie Diggs makes a nifty move to pick up extra yardage, but linebacker Zach Fetters forces a fumble and recovers it to give William & Mary the ball on its own 23-yard line. The play is reviewed and upheld by officials to give the Tribe the ball back.

9:19 -- Richmond picks up consecutive first downs, the second coming on an 18-yard run by Jacobi Green to put the Spiders in William & Mary territory.

10:53 -- William & Mary scores the first points of the game on a 45-yard field goal from kicker Nick Dorka. The Trible leads the Spiders 3-0 less than five minutes into the game and will kick to the Spiders.

11:04 -- Tribe quarterback Steve Cluley's pass falls incomplete near the goal-line after Spider defenders knock the pass away. Richmond makes a stop on third down to bring out the William & Mary field goal unit.

13:39 -- A roughing the passer penalty gives the Tribe a first down at the Spiders' 43-yard line early in the first quarter.

14:56 -- A short kick is returned by William & Mary to the 27-yard line, where it will start its first possession of the game.

We're ten minutes away from kickoff at Robins Stadium as Spider football hosts in-state rival William & Mary in a game whose winner is guaranteed a playoff berth and least a share of the CAA title. This marks the 125th meeting between the two teams, the longest rivalry in the South and the fourth-longest in the entire nation. The Tribe has the momentum with six wins in a row while the Spiders have lost their last two, but Richmond has won its last three in a row against William & Mary. Stay tuned for updates and analysis.