Fruitful rushing attack leads Spiders over Aggies

Four weeks ago, the University of Richmond football team found itself in the loss column once again after its home opener against Wofford College Sept. 7. That loss marked two on the year for the Spiders, giving them an 0-2 record through the first two weeks of the season. 

Flash forward almost a month later and UR just picked up its fourth victory in a row, completely flipping the script from its first two games and moving to 4-2 after taking down North Carolina A&T University 20-17 at Robins Stadium Oct. 5. 

Taking down the 1-4 Aggies was no easy feat, however. Even with momentum from wins over Charleston Southern University, Delaware State University and Elon University over the last three weeks, the Spiders found themselves down 10-0 with 9:24 to go in the second quarter.

“I told [the team] if we come out and play like this the next time out, we’ll get our butts beat basically,” UR Head Coach Russ Huesman said in a postgame press conference. “We can’t play like that. We gotta play better. We had drops; defensively we were below average; we didn’t tackle well; we didn’t make great adjustments.” 

Despite struggles on both sides of the ball, though, the Spiders prevailed and will now head into their bye week in a completely different position in the standings than they were just last month. 

Early in the game, it looked as if the Spiders would take to the scoreboard first, as they were able to force a three-and-out to start the game. On UR’s first offensive series, however, a pre-snap false start penalty, coupled with an incomplete pass and a 12-yard sack on subsequent plays, proved otherwise. 

The Spiders would not score, as it turned out, until the 8:34 mark of the second quarter. 

Just when UR needed a spark after falling behind 10-0 to its conference opponent in the Aggies, first-year running back Andrew King put the Spiders on the board with a 63-yard rushing touchdown. 

That touchdown was a bright spot in what turned out to be a career day for King, who, up until this game, had only rushed for 75 yards combined through three games this season. Against North Carolina A&T, King finished with 100 yards on the ground to go along with the touchdown. 

“[King’s] a good player,” Huesman said after the game. “And he popped the one [rush], you see he can run. And when we recruited him out of high school, we knew he could run. He’s pretty electric, and when he showed up to camp, we knew he was in the picture, no question about that. He didn’t start real quick, but him and Palmer-Smith, great one-two punch right now.”

Once the Spiders broke their seal on the scoreboard, UR went on to put together drives that produced two field goals, capping off 13 unanswered points for its squad. This put the Spiders ahead 13-10 with 12:11 to play in the third quarter. 

On the next defensive series, redshirt senior defensive back Chance Graves captured a fumble forced by fellow redshirt senior defensive back Jabril Hayes, giving the Spiders the ball.

Unfortunately, nothing would come of the quick change in possession, as the Aggies forced a UR three-and-out. 

The Spiders did ultimately get back to the end zone thanks to junior running back Zach Palmer-Smith, which brought the Spiders’ lead to 20-10. Palmer-Smith had himself a career day on the ground just as King did, although Palmer-Smith bested the first-year in the rushing column with 200 yards on the day. 

That was the last of UR’s point-producing plays, as the Aggies would go on to score the final touchdown of the game with 8:20 to go. 

With a three-point lead and the ball, the Spiders suffered a three-and-out when what they likely aimed to do was drain the clock and try to put a cushion on their narrow lead. Instead, North Carolina A&T got the ball back with over seven minutes left to play in the game. 

Luckily for the Spiders, they were able to stop the Aggies after the North Carolina A&T attempted to go for it on 4th & 2 and came up short, which gave UR the ball back. 

The Spiders then strung some plays together when needed – thanks again to a strong rushing attack – which left sophomore quarterback Camden Coleman able to kneel UR to victory in the closing minute. 

It was at this point last season when the Spiders rattled off six wins in a row to finish with an 8-3 record, a Capital Cup trophy, a piece of the CAA Championship and a second-straight trip to the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs. 

With a bye week and then five more games to go in their schedule, only time will tell how the Spiders will fare down the stretch. 

The Spiders can now only hope for history to repeat itself, as the last time UR qualified for the FCS Playoffs in back-to-back years, it ultimately turned into three years in a row in 2014, 2015 and 2016. 

The Spiders’ next game is back at home against the University of Delaware at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 19. 

Contact sports editor Jimmy James at jimmy.james@richmond.edu.