Three-peat secured: Spiders back in FCS playoffs

2016 marked the University of Richmond football team’s third trip to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs in a row at the time, having also made postseason appearances in 2014 and 2015. 

Eight years later, history has repeated itself. 

For the second time in the past 10 years, the Spiders have qualified for a third-straight appearance in the FCS playoffs. 

Despite having one game against the College of William & Mary remaining in its schedule, UR already has at least a portion of the Coastal Athletic Association Championship in its grasp to go along with the pending postseason bid. 

And with a conference switch to the Patriot League on the horizon, securing a share of this championship is only fitting given this is the Spiders’ last season in the CAA. 

“It is a wonderful feeling,” redshirt junior defensive lineman Carsen Stocklinski said in a postgame interview with the Spider Sports Network following the team’s 24-21 win over Hampton University Nov. 17. “I can’t even describe it. All I know is we all put the work in, we put the time in and everything and it’s just so happy to see it pay off.” 

This feat did not seem like a foregone conclusion in the early stages of this season. In fact, by week two, the Spiders, having suffered two losses to open the 2024 campaign, were looking far removed from a potential playoff run. 

Just like last season, however, when UR rattled off six wins in a row after a slow start to the season, the Spiders eventually found their groove. This time around, they’ve won nine games in a row, with a game still yet to be played. 

“These guys somehow find a way to get it done,” UR Head Coach Russ Huesman said in a postgame interview with the Spider Sports Network. “I don’t know how they’re doing it, but they find a way and they get it done, and just awful proud of this football team. Well-deserved.”

After losses to the University of Virginia and Wofford College to open up their schedule, the Spiders finally moved into the win column with a victory over Charleston Southern University. Since that 38-0 outing, UR has not looked back. In fact, the loss to the Terriers was the last time the Spiders did not leave a game victorious.

“I told our fourth, fifth and sixth-year guys in our meeting…how proud I was, and what they’ve done for this program is unbelievable,” Huesman said. “And where they’ve gotten this program to is just tremendous for them.”

In each of the Spiders’ last two FCS appearances, UR won its first game and advanced to the second round. That second round, however, has proved to be the thorn in the Spiders’ side, acting as a hurdle for the program over the last two years. 

In 2022, UR defeated Davidson College and then fell to California State University, Sacramento, and in 2023, the Spiders took down North Carolina Central University and then ultimately lost to the University at Albany. 

This time around, however, the Spiders will look to get past the ever-elusive second round, a feat that has not been accomplished by the program since 2016. 

In that postseason run, UR defeated North Carolina A&T University in the first round and the University of North Dakota in the second round. A loss against Eastern Washington University in the quarterfinals was where the Spiders’ run was stopped.  

The Spiders will take on the Tribe at 12 p.m. Nov. 23 where they will look to win their second-straight Capital Cup trophy and third Capital Cup trophy in four years. Following the game, UR will find out its playoff seeding and matchup during the FCS Championship selection show, which is set for 12:30 p.m. the next day. 

“Season's not done yet, we got a lot more to work for,” Stocklinski said. 

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