UND now knows who their opponent will be on Saturday. The heavily favored Richmond Spiders took care of over-matched North Carolina A&T by a score of 39-10 to advance in the FCS playoffs.
Richmond put up 491 yards of offense and held A&T to 226 total yards. Head Coach Danny Rocco surprised everyone by pulling the redshirt off sophomore QB Kevin Johnson and starting him. Johnson played sparingly last year but was going to sit this season out to save a year. That plan changed when their star QB Kyle Lauletta went down with a knee injury last week.
Johnson looked very polished and composed for it being his first collegiate start in Richmond’s spread offense. He ended the day 15-23 for 315 yards and 1 TD. Johnson throws an accurate, tight spiral. Can see why Rocco wanted to save him for next year.
The Richmond defense, who is missing several players due to injury, looked very sound in their 3-3-5 scheme. They have a solid secondary and overall look the part of a very good defense.
The Spiders have playoff experience. They went 2-1 last year, losing to NDSU in the semi-finals.
2015 FCS Playoffs
Sat, Dec 05 William & Mary, Robins Stadium, Richmond, Va. W, 48-13
Fri, Dec 11 Illinois State, Normal, Ill. W, 39-27
Fri, Dec 18 North Dakota State, Fargo, N.D. L, 33-7
2014 FCS Playoffs
Sat, Nov 29 Morgan State, Robins Stadium, Richmond, Va. W, 46-24
Sat, Dec 06 Coastal Carolina, Conway, S.C. L, 36-15
Here are the Richmond offensive & defensive statistics and their rank in the CAA.
Richmond Offense (CAA Rank-12 Teams)
SCORING OFFENSE G TD XP 2XP DXP FG Saf Pts Avg -------------------------------------------------------------- 1. James Madison....... 11 71 67 1 0 10 0 525 47.7 2. Richmond............ 12 44 39 1 0 23 0 374 31.2
RUSHING OFFENSE G Att Yds Avg TD Yds/G -------------------------------------------------------- 1. James Madison....... 11 553 3268 5.9 42 297.1 9. Richmond............ 12 430 1801 4.2 17 150.1
PASS OFFENSE G Att Cmp Int Pct. Yds Avg TD Yds/G ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Richmond............ 12 382 237 10 62.0 3355 8.8 25 279.6 2. James Madison....... 11 261 185 6 70.9 2474 9.5 22 224.9
TOTAL OFFENSE G Rush Pass Plays Yards Avg/P TD Yds/G ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. James Madison....... 11 3268 2474 814 5742 7.1 64 522.0 2. Richmond............ 12 1801 3355 812 5156 6.3 42 429.7
3RD-DN CONVERSIONS G Conv Att Pct ------------------------------------------- 1. James Madison....... 11 76 139 54.7 2. Richmond............ 12 74 169 43.8
FIELD GOALS G Made Att Pct -------------------------------------------- 1. Richmond............ 12 23 26 .885 2. Elon................ 11 12 14 .857
TIME OF POSSESSION G Total Time Avg/G ---------------------------------------------- 1. Villanova........... 12 394:45 32:53 2. Richmond............ 12 385:22 32:06
The Richmond offensive numbers are a bit skewed due to the fact that Lauletta ran the show all year. They liked to hit big plays through the air and that may change with Johnson at the helm.
One number that is very impressive is their 43.8% third-down conversion rate. UND will need to win that battle on Saturday.
Richmond averages 32 minutes of possession per game. UND averages 34 minutes. Something has to give.
Richmond’s punting game appears to be pretty average. They have also struggled on kickoff coverage, which bodes well for John Santiago.
Richmond Defense (CAA Rank-12 Teams)
SCORING DEFENSE G TD XP 2XP DXP FG Saf Pts Avg -------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Villanova........... 12 24 21 1 0 6 0 185 15.4 5. Richmond............ 12 34 30 1 0 10 0 266 22.2
RUSHING DEFENSE G Rushes Yards Avg. TD Yds/G ---------------------------------------------------------- 1. Villanova........... 12 372 1132 3.0 11 94.3 5. Richmond............ 12 439 1788 4.1 21 149.0
PASS DEFENSE G Att Cmp Int Pct. Yds Avg TD Yds/G ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. William & Mary...... 11 282 155 12 55.0 1696 6.0 7 154.2 2. Richmond............ 12 299 157 16 52.5 1875 6.3 11 156.2
TOTAL DEFENSE G Rush Pass Plys Yards Avg TD Yds/G --------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Villanova........... 12 1132 2048 716 3180 4.4 20 265.0 3. Richmond............ 12 1788 1875 738 3663 5.0 32 305.2
SACKS BY G Sacks Yards --------------------------------------- 1. Villanova........... 12 30 213 5. Richmond............ 12 21 152
SACKS AGAINST G Sacks Yards --------------------------------------- 1. James Madison....... 11 9 39 8. Richmond............ 12 21 148
PUNTING G No. Yards Avg/P PR Avg TB Net/P --------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Towson.............. 11 43 1908 44.4 130 3.0 2 40.4 10.Richmond............ 12 48 1817 37.9 107 2.2 1 35.2
|--Gained--||---Lost---| TURNOVER MARGIN G Fum Int Tot Fum Int Tot Mar Per/G -------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Albany.............. 11 15 17 32 5 11 16 +16 1.45 3. Richmond............ 12 11 16 27 5 10 15 +12 1.00
KICKOFF COVERAGE G No. Yards Avg Retn TB NetAvg ------------------------------------------------------------ 1. James Madison....... 11 92 5680 61.7 1268 26 40.9 12.Richmond............ 12 74 3947 53.3 1497 2 32.4
Feature Image courtesy of Richmond Athletics.
