University of Richmond

The Spiders, who earned a share of the CAA title for the second consecutive year and secured the conference's automatic bid to the postseason last week, defeated rival William & Mary 27-0 on Saturday at Robins Stadium. With the win, Richmond retained the Capital Cup presented by C&F Bank and improved its record in the “Oldest Rivalry in the South” to 66-64-5. The meeting marked the last time the two teams faced each other as conference rivals.

The win also gave Richmond its first 10-win regular season since 2009, matching its best-ever regular season record, and the undefeated conference season is only the second ever for the Spiders, who went a perfect 6-0 in the Southern. Conference in 1968. The Spiders became only the seventh team in CAA history to post an undefeated record in conference play, and the shutout victory over the Tribe was the first since 1973 when Richmond won 31-0 in Williamsburg.

“Unbelievable. It was incredible. An incredible day,” Chief Coch said Russ Huesman.

“We have great kids, I love them all. They are fun to coach and every day I go to practices or meetings, they are fun to be with, it's just incredible. Their parents do a great job with them and our coaching done The staff did a great job. We have some really good coaches and the fact that we beat William and Mary 27-0 today says a lot about our coaches and our players.”

Richmond joined the board early Wayne Galloway intercepted a pass on William and Mary's opening possession. The Spiders benefited from the turnover with Sean O'Haire connecting on a career-high 50-yard field goal at the 8:43 mark of the first quarter. The kick tied for the seventh-longest field goal in program history.

Richmond's second score came at 2:01 of the first quarter at quarterback Camden Coleman ran for a three-yard touchdown. Run back Zach Palmer Smith played a key role in the drive, rushing four times for 34 yards to set up the touchdown.

In the second quarter, Coleman scored again, this time on a one-yard rush at 2:14. The drive was sparked by a bad snap on a William & Mary punt, giving Richmond the ball at the Tribe's 31-yard line. The Tribe's punter failed to convert a fourth down pass attempt, turning the ball over on downs.

From there, the Spiders moved down the field where O'Haire was successful on a 20-yard field goal attempt but was hit by a Tribe defender during the kick, drawing a Tribe penalty. The penalty gave Richmond another set of downs on first and goal, and Coleman found the end zone on the next play to give the Spiders a 17-0 lead at halftime.

The Spiders extended their lead in the fourth quarter. At 2:56 PM a long drive that took 9:58 clock time ended with another successful O'Haire kick, this one from 30 meters out.

Palmer-Smith found the end zone for Richmond's final score of the day at 5:54 in the fourth on a one-yard rush to cap a 13-play, 78-yard drive that erased 7:05 from the clock. With 13 of us^e rushing touchdown of the year, Palmer-Smith now ranks fourth all-time in program history in rushing touchdowns in a season and brought his season total rushing yards to 1,275, good enough for sixth all-time at UR. Palmer-Smith finished the day with 25 carries for 129 yards, marking his fifth game this season with more than 100 rushing yards.

“We do the same things every week,” Palmer-Smith says. “We come to practice, we prepare and our preparation has to meet our execution week in and week out.”

Richmond dominated the time of possession, holding the ball for 35:56, compared to just 24:04 for William & Mary.

The Spiders' offense outscored the Tribe 307-164, and Richmond's defense held William & Mary's ground attack to just 64 yards all game. Prior to Saturday's game, the Tribe averaged 248.09 yards per rushing game.

Quantraill Morris-Walker led the Spiders' defense with a career-high 11 tackles, including a sack and two tackles for loss and Wayne Galloway followed by six, the interception and three quarterback hurries.

Jeremiah Grant came up big with three tackles for loss, a sack and a quarterback rush. His sack brings his season total to 12.5 and now needs just one more 1.5 to tie and 2.0 to break Richmond's all-time sack record in a single season.

Richmond is now heading to the FCS Playoffs for the third year in a row. The last time the Spiders made three straight playoff appearances was from 2014 to 2016. Before that, they accomplished the feat in the 2007, 2008 and 2009 seasons. Richmond has now won back-to-back conference titles for just the second time in program history, also at the Southern Conference in 1968 and 1969.

The team is hosting a watch party for the FCS Selection Show to learn where Richmond will land in the postseason on Sunday, Nov. 24 at the Jepson Alumni Center. The program starts at 12:30 PM and fans are invited from 12:00 PM. Coaches and players will be on hand to celebrate as the Spiders get to know their FCS playoff opponent. Light refreshments will be provided and all Spider fans are encouraged to join in the excitement.

For those who can't make it, the selection show will air on ESPNU and ESPN+.