UPDATE – UR moved the ball well but Andrew Howard pushed a 35-yard field goal wide left. That’s the ballgame. 21-20 Villanova. The winning streak ends at 17. An incredibly entertaining game, particularly in the fourth quarter. The Spiders will rue two blown extra points and they won’t be happy when the review the tape of Villanova’s first touchdown – where the receiver came down out of bounds. This is the final update. Time to get some postgame interviews done. Check back later for a full story.
UPDATE – Chris Whitney finds Brandyn Harvey for a 29-yard touchdown. A terrific catch by Harvey, who reeled in the ball with one hand and carried into the end zone. Most important – Villanova made the extra point and now leads 21-20 with 59 seconds left. UR has one timeout left.
UPDATE – Just a bit of tension at UR Stadium as Villanova tries to mount a final scoring drive. The Wildcats just used their last timeout. It is now fourth down, they have the ball on the UR 29. A field goal won’t cut it. They have to get into the end zone. Is this a big play ahead? Yeah, you could say that.
UPDATE – Kendall Gaskins again from 1-yard out and UR is on top with 2:22 to play. But only by six, as the Spiders botch another extra point. It’s been a very impressive second half (other than that extra point) but the Spiders need to play some defense here.
UPDATE – Spiders on the move again after a Villanova punt. Is Mike London a gambler? He went for it on fourth-and-1 from midfield and freshman Kendall Gaskins picked up the needed yardage plus a couple. Now the Spiders are deep into Villanova territory and keep it safe and on the ground. Villanova calls timeout.
UPDATE – UR is going in for the go-ahead score and Eric Ward is picked off again, this time by Eric Loper. So now Villanova has the ball in a tie game, facing a third down with 8:20 to play. This has turned into quite a game – are we perhaps headed for overtime?
UPDATE – Touchdown, seven yards in the air from Eric Ward to Tre Gray. Now UR is doing the no-brainer and going for two - There it is, Ward to Jordan Mitchell. It’s tied at 14 with 12:53 to go. That was a classic case of why UR has been able to win a national championship and 17 straight games. The Spiders are opportunistic. This one isn’t over and Villanova could very well end up winning. But most teams would be down two touchdowns now. UR is tied. Impressive and fast turnaround and it will make for quite an exciting finish.
UPDATE – UR’s Patrick Weldon went 70 yards with an interception return, the longest he’s had in six career picks. Villanova was knocking at the door again and now UR is putting it in play at the Wildcats’ 25. The third quarter is over. Richmond needs to take advantage get into the end zone. Villanova’s Chris Whitney rifled a pass from almost point blank range but Weldon was able to hold it and take off down the field.
UPDATE – Another pick for the Wildcats, this time Jacob Wade does the honors on an Eric Ward pass. Villanova will start this drive on the Spiders’ 37 with a chance to put Richmond in a serious hole. The clock is under four minutes in the third quarter. UR needs a stop here and then needs to get into the end zone. The winning streak doesn’t need last rites yet but things are getting critical here at UR Stadium.
UPDATE – The Spiders’ initial drive of the second half was off to a fine start. They were moving the ball well. But they tried to get cute and it didn’t work. Wide receiver Kevin Grayson attempted a pass (his third of the season) and it was picked off by Villanova’s James Pitts (his third of the year). Grayson threw into double coverage and the Spiders paid a heavy price. And guess what? While this was being typed, Villanova converted a third-down to get out of a bad spot deep in its own territory. Still 14-6 Wildcats.
UPDATE – Teams are back on the field for the second half. The Spiders will get the ball first. UR has done wonders in the second half this season, do the Spiders have another surge in them? Stay tuned. The longest winning streak in state Division I history is on the line. UR has trailed three previous times this season – against Delaware, James Madison and Maine.
NUMBERS UPDATE – UR actually outgained Villanova in the second quarter but trails the total yardage game at halftime 220-122. Nova’s Chris Whitney has thrown for 162 yards. Richmond’s Eric Ward had all 84 of his passing yards in the second quarter, after going 0-3 in the air in the first period. Homecoming festivities are taking place on the field – in the locker room, UR coach Mike London and staff are no doubt trying to figure out how to get Villanova off the field a little more quickly. UR has scored at least 31 points in 15 straight home games. It will be an impressive second half if that streak continues.
UPDATE – Halftime, Villanova leads 14-6. The half ended with UR trying a 51-yard field goal but Andrew Howard’s kick faded off to the left. UR could be in a much deeper hole. We’ll look at the numbers shortly but Villanova appeared to be the dominant team. It had a 130-20 advantage in yards after one quarter.
UPDATE – Chris Whitney finds Matt Szczur from 23 yards out (and the Wildcats get the extra point) to give Villanova an eight-point lead late in the half, forcing the Spiders into their two-minute offense. Villanova is 4-7 on third-down thus far.
UPDATE – Spiders get a touchdown on a 1-yard sneak by quarterback Eric Ward. A nice 19-yard pass to Kevin Finney set up the score. But a botched snap on the extra point leaves UR a point behind. Never assume. I’d originally typed “equalizer” in the first sentence of this update but it isn’t equalized. UR moved the ball well for the first time all day, which is the good news for the Spiders.
UPDATE – Into the second quarter now and Richmond can’t get anything going on offense. Spiders are down 7-0 and it could be worse – Villanova was knocking on the door and had a drive blow up to start the second quarter. The Wildcats have outscored their opponents 73-16 in first quarters this season. UR has been shut out three times in the first quarter this season and five times during its 17-game winning streak. Villanova is about to go on offense again after another Spiders punt.
UPDATE – Villanova is on the board after a 12-yard pass from Chris Whitney to Dorian Wells. First career touchdown for Wells. There’s no replay at the FCS level, which is a good thing for the Wildcats and a bad thing for the Spiders. There’s a TV in the pressbox and replays from the Comcast SportsNet broadcast showed Wells coming down with his feet clearly beyond the end line. Not trying to sound like some sort of homer here but it didn’t look all that close. But nothing can be done and, after extra point, Villanova has a 7-0 lead.
UPDATE – We must interrupt this game report to give due credit to the crowd. Is it as big as it should be for a matchup of top 5 teams? No. Is it bigger than UR has had all season and bigger than it was just a while ago? Yes. The “big” side of the stands by the UR bench has filled in almost completely and looks like a sea of red. The other side is about half full. Best guess is they’ll call the crowd 14,000 or so. On the field, Villanova is in the midst of a good drive and has the ball on the UR 28.
UPDATE – First first down of the game goes to the Spiders, on a penalty. Matt Szczur ran into Brett Weigand as he punted and earned a 15-yarder, which gave the ball back to UR instead of letting the Wildcats start another drive in good field position. Weigand lay on the ground a while after getting hit but left the field under his own power.
UPDATE – Ball is in the air, game on. Villanova goes on offense first and will have great field position after a strong return by Matt Szczur – starting at the UR 44. But he loses 7 on first down and now the Wildcats are out of UR territory. You pronounce it like the salad, by the way. There’s another lost-yardage play. Villanova has lost 12 yards on its first two plays after that fine return by Mr. Szczur (salad).
UPDATE – Kickoff is 12 minutes away and there’s what looks like a local high school band on the field. The weather remains perfect, those cloud wisps having moved out. Not a huge crowd here, which boggles the mind. This is a pretty good game between two pretty good teams. You’d think it would come close to filling the 21,319-season facility. Doesn’t look like there will be 10,000 here but there may be a bunch of folks still out in the parking lot enjoying their tailgates on this fine day. We’ll see how it fills in.
RICHMOND – Two weeks ago, the weather could not have been more different than it is today at University of Richmond Stadium. Then, top-ranked Richmond Spiders were preparing to play Massachusetts and everyone here got thoroughly soaked watching them win. Today, the top-ranked Spiders are getting ready to play No. 4 Villanova in a huge Football Championship Subdivision game. The weather is about perfect. Only a few wisps of clouds, temperatures in the 60s. It’s gonna be a great day. Weather wise at least.
How will be the football be? It oughta be pretty darn good, too. Richmond, the defending FCS champion, has a 17-game winning streak. For a while, it looked as if this would be a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup, but Villanova lost at New Hampshire on Oct. 10. It has won two straight since, scoring 63 points and giving up only seven in those contests.
Villanova beat UR 26-20 last season and it leads the series against Richmond 19-9. Last year’s Villanova victory marked the Spiders’ last road loss.
Some interesting numbers for these teams. Villanova averages 31.2 points per game, Richmond averages 32.5 Villanova gives up 12.9 points per game, Richmond 15.4. So will this be an offensive battle or a defensive matchup.
The Spiders’ senior quarterback, Eric Ward, needs only 34 yards to become UR’s all-time passing leader. Senior running back Justin Forte leads the CAA in rushing and is averaging 115.2 yards per game over his past five games.
Stay in touch with the game with Virginia Sports Now. We’ll post frequent updates and come back as soon as we can afterward with a full story. Or, get yourself down here and enjoy the game. Trust us, the weather is grand. You can watch in person AND keep up with www.vasportsnow.com on your handheld.
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