seems most teams have 2. we don't show any on our schedule. thoughts?

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whipping the Camels Saturday means we'll be playing meaningful football in November...at 5-1 we're right in the middle of the CAA Championship battle...after Hampton this fan almost gave up...only post season football is better than a meaningful November!

winning October (4-0) and five of the last six gives us strong momentum and should give us confidence that we can do what we need to in November...

Championship and Playoff contenders are usually still improving and playing their best ball in November...after the NC A&T stumble it was great to see the Spiders play their best game of the season...I expect we'll need to be even better to win November and we're on the right trajectory...

these are a few amateur highlights from Saturday's big win...the defense, rushing game and passing attack are featured...

Go Spiders!

Just a rumor, but big if true:

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Coach Huesman reiterated for the ninth game in a row that the Spiders will have to play "extremely well" to defeat the Fighting Camels...last week against A&T the upward performance trajectory needed to reach November and meaningful football stalled on the offensive and special teams units...that has to be corrected on Saturday!

Campbell may be a lot like Rhode Island...they have demonstrated a powerful offensive attack that scores over 37 points per game versus CAA opponents...our defense will likely be severely tested by the Camel's QB Williams and his receivers who specialize in big plays...their red zone TD % is incredible 30/35...let's keep em out of the red zone!

the oddsmakers have the game about even...like Rhode Island I do expect the Spiders defense to slow down Williams and company...that will give our offense and special teams a chance to redeem themselves after the letdown in Greensboro...we'll need a confident and productive start to the game...don't want to be playing catch up!

I'm also looking forward to seeing the ceremonies to honor the 2008 National Champions...what priceless memories they gave Richmond fans...so far the 2023 team has little in common with the 2008 Champions, but maybe some that magical 2008 mojo will wear off on this years team...after Scotty McGee, the Champs ripped off nine wins to get the crown...I'd settle for this team's 4th in a row to get to November and meaningful football...

If you are celebrating Homecoming I hope you have fun...it looks to be a great day for Spiders fellowship, camaraderie and important football game...

enjoy the Prologue...

Go Spiders!

Sam Houston State is having a tough season. They have lost every game this season. They could go 0-12 on the year. This is what their fans have become.

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I'd like to thank the Richmond offense, led by Cam Coleman, for getting the Spiders to Saturday's game versus the Rams at 2-1 in the CAA...I'll admit it, the win rekindled my Spiders mojo despite the continued long odds...

as poorly as we played through the Hampton game we're in a group of four squads at 2-1...this battle with the blue Rams probably eliminates the loser from serious Championship hopes...

Rhode Island seems to be by far the best FCS squad the Spiders have faced this season...and for the first time versus an FCS opponent Richmond will be a significant underdog...an unidentified defensive player in yesterday's local media session acknowledged that every game is now an elimination game for the Spiders...

facing a solid opponent, and with stakes this high, will likely require an extraordinary effort and execution in all three phases of the game to bring home a Spiders upset win...Cam Coleman and the offense gave Spiders fans hope last week that our offense had found itself...I can't wait to find out if it was real, or an anomaly...it's likely our defense won't stop the Rams powerful offense, but if they can control Rhody, maybe we can score enough points to win?...

a UR win and 3-1 in the CAA at the halfway mark would be where many thought we would be before the season began...after all we've been through since Morgan State that would be ironic...

enjoy the Prologue...

Go Spiders!

Regular season champs who don't get an NCAA bid are no longer guaranteed an NIT bid. Instead, the top two teams (by NET) from each of the P6 conferences who don't get NCAA bids will get automatic NIT bids and will be guaranteed to host in the first round.

Just took a look through and these are the P6 teams that would have earned automatic NIT bids with home games based on their Selection Sunday NETs last year. This doesn't account for any conference membership shuffling for this year.

Big 12
#43 Oklahoma State - earned a bid anyway but had to play on the road at Youngstown State, ended up advancing to quarterfinals
#63 Texas Tech - declined a potential bid after losing in Big 12 tournament opener and coach resigned

Big Ten
#40 Rutgers - earned a bid anyway and hosted Hofstra in first round but lost
#52 Ohio State - finished 16–19 and did not make the postseason

SEC
#62 Florida - earned a bid anyway and hosted UCF in first round but lost
#81 Vanderbilt - earned a bid anyway and hosted through to a quarterfinal loss to UAB

Big East
#75 Villanova - earned a bid anyway but had to play on the road at Liberty and lost
#77 Seton Hall - earned a bid anyway but had to play on the road at Colorado and lost

Pac-12
#47 Oregon - earned a bid anyway and hosted through to a quarterfinal loss to Wisconsin
#69 Colorado - earned a bid anyway and hosted Seton Hall in first round before losing to UVSU at home

ACC
#46 UNC - declined a potential bid
#60 Clemson - earned a bid anyway and hosted Morehead State in first round but lost

I am unclear what happens if one of these teams declines a bid. Are they now required to accept, or can they still decline and if so, does it then fall to the next team on the list from that conference, or does that conference forfeit an auto spot? Looks like only one team (Ohio State) outright didn't get a bid last year, but there were several others who had to play on the road who would have been guaranteed home games under the new system.

Glad we are honoring our National Championship Team Saturday. What a great run that team went on after that JMU loss. They not only made a great run but finished the deal as Champions. So many memories made along the way. I got to share that playoff run with both my brothers and many more family and friends in Chattanooga. Three brothers, all UR alumni, ventured to all playoff games that year including Northen Iowa where we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with "The Drive". All our families then traveled to Chattanooga for 3 days and made memories I will cherish forever. So many proud Spider fans and alumni got together for that Championship Game which included a great Spider Walk before the game. I am amazed how many of our current players know very little about this team. With Huesman on the staff you would think he would at least expose them to some of the glory days. He said today on his radio show that none of that team would even get a chance to speak with the current team this weekend due to lack of time. What a loss not to build off those great memories and focus on the run that team made to close out the year. Thanks 2008 Spiders. We will never forget those memories you created to get the Spiders to the top of FCS football.

Not much if anything that mid majors are going to like about this .. much less low majors

Guards - Nelson, Dji, Roche, Smith, Randolph, Dread
Forwards - Bigelow, Noyes, Tanner
Bigs - Quinn, Walz

Lot of guys that can do 1 or two basketball skills well, but lacking in others. Thinking we really really need 2 impact players in the portal.

1. Need a guard that can come in and right the ship, control the game, score, do everything type. Then we need one guard to raise his game and be a 30 minute a night contributor. All (except Dread) have shown flashes of being big time contributor, but not enough consistency. Not feeling great about this, when you are hoping for big improvement internally it is usually a stretch.

2. Just need another 6'5 + guy that can do a lot (defend, rebound, etc) and score some. and again, we need either Noyes or Bigs to step up and be a good A10 starter. Need Walz to be impactful. Quinn shows flashes, but Walz needs to want to beat him out and not just be content to lift weights, and keep working for the future. The future is now for you as a hoops player.

I hope Mooney heals up and has a calm restful recovery. Then he and Hardt decide its time to ride into the sunset.

Pretty impressive as a true freshman.

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coming from the Big South conference with most of an offense that averaged over 30 points per game and a bushel basket of BCS/FBS transfers, it's hard to say how Campbell will fare in the CAA this season, but by the time they reach The Brick House for Homecoming on October 28 we should have a good idea what we'll be facing!

Camel's Head Coach Mike Minter says he'll field a team that is tough, smart, fast and physical...he calls the CAA "the SEC of FCS football"!...his Portal Transfers come from prominent programs from coast to coast...UCLA, VT, LSU, NC State, etc.

despite all this, the CAA preseason poll projects the Camels in 11th place...if Minter can meld the transfers with his returning players, Campbell could be one of the surprise teams in the CAA...it seems like every year at least one squad far exceeds expectations...Buies Creek will be rocking on August 31 when the Camels host defending CAA Champion W&M in their first ever CAA game...that should tell Minter a lot about how far the Camels have come, and how far they have to go!

October 28 will be Homecoming at Richmond...the Spiders certainly can't afford to let a bunch of Camels ruin the celebration...but it shouldn't surprise us if we get a battle!..

enjoy this special Homecoming edition of the Countdown...

Go Spiders!

With the season fast approaching - wanted to get some views on what people think will happen record wise from an OOC perspective. Here are the games below and my predictions. I got us going right around .500 at 7-6. I could see that being 8-5 or down to 6-7. Anything above 8 win would be surprising, and anything below 6 wins would be very disappointing.

VMI - W
SIena - W
@ Boston College - L
Colorado - L
Florida State/UNLV - L
Queens - W
@Wichita St - L
William Mary - W
@Northern Iowa - W
@Florida - L
Charlotte - L
Buffalo - W
Lafayette - W

6'8', 195lb SF out of Wisconsin. Handful of MVC/MAC type offers in hand.


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Happy for Sean - one of the good guys - for this new position. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/37990346/reports-yankees-hiring-sean-casey-new-hitting-coach

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Who is next?

It's official. No Fairfield (at least yet...not sure if it's still a possibility), but High Point and Hobart are joining up with the four A-10 schools (us, Bona, UMass, and St. Joe's) for an autobid conference.

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how appropriate that there was just a slight hint of fall in the air today?…Saturday could be an almost perfect evening for the 2023 Richmond opener at The Brick House…

preseason camp went on forever, but seemed different than in recent seasons…a lot of energy, confidence and competition…even the usual hard to please Coach Huesman seemed more upbeat…we all heard him say multiple times how much he liked his players and this team…

Morgan State should come in playing loose and with nothing to lose…it’ll be a big game for them, but a bigger game for the Spiders…the team needs to begin demonstrating that all of the optimism surrounding the season can be taken from camp to the playing field…

Saturday evening I hope to see a dominant Spiders defense…on the offensive side it’ll be interesting to see if we leverage our strong offensive line to run the ball more and balance our offense…and most of all, how Wickersham performs at QB…there’s a lot of strength around him on the OL and at RB…

I hope our guys see this one as a statement game…sending a big message to the coaches and fans that they are on an eleven game mission to play meaningful football in November and December once again.

Enjoy the Prologue.

Go Spiders!

Hamas attacked Israel and has killed more than 1,000 Israelis. They beheaded babies and killed parents. It is truly an awful event. This is the worst slaughter of Jews en masse since the holocaust. It is very sad. Israel has a right to be angry.

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the struggling Aggies look like a perfect opponent for a team that has to win a football game…they’re 0-3 in the CAA and have been outscored in their three losses by a combined score of 85-23!

they have extreme difficulty scoring and passing the ball against CAA opponents, averaging around 55 yards per game through the air and around 12 points per game…

Coach Vincent Brown has a young squad that is learning what it takes to win in A&T’s first season in the CAA…they have to win their first CAA game some time!…let's hope it doesn't come together against us!

what could possibly go wrong?...the Aggies look and sound a lot like Morgan State and Hampton on paper…we weren’t ready for the Bears, or the Pirates, and we paid the price…that’s why we’re in the jam we’re in now…

the Spiders have played much better the last two games and seem to be in an upward trajectory…what happened earlier in the season won’t matter if we’re ready to focus and execute

after Saturday I wish the Aggies a lot of luck getting that first CAA win…the game finishes the Spiders run through teams projected to finish 10th, 13th, 14th and 15th in the CAA preseason poll…

an impressive win would be the perfect warm up for what could be two giant and fun games at The Brick House!

Enjoy the Prologue

Go Spiders!

I've been putting a few things about Grant and Gilly in their summer league thread, but seems like we might need a central place to discuss all of our guys playing in the G League. In addition to those two, I see SDJ is once again on the training camp roster for the Motor City Cruise, while Blake is back with the Capital City Go-Go. If anybody knows what TJ is up to, give us an update!

Roche posted on Instagram that he's proud to be part of the collective. No mention of how much he's getting.

Is anyone making the trip to the game. I called the ticket office today and we got No tickets for the game. Was told they must be purchased from their ticket office?We have always gotten tickets for players, but was not told about any for them also. Would like to sit with them but have no way yet as to where the player tickets are or if UR is getting player Comp Tickets ?

JOC piece on Noyes and expectations of a bigger role this year. Some quotes from him.

“Tyler’s my guy. I didn’t want to see him go, but he’s got to do what’s best for him,” said Noyes. “In terms of my time being here, I feel like this is going to be a big year. I’ve been putting a ton of work into my game and my body. I really feel like I’m ready to make that next big jump here at Richmond.
“So I’m really excited and I’m ready to go.”

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“I was very confident going into that game because I’m very confident in my ability and I’ve never really not had confidence in myself,” said Noyes, who converted four of his seven 3-point shots last season. “But going out there (at Saint Joseph’s) and doing pretty well showed me that I belong out there and I can be successful out there.” [...]

“It’s not exactly a simple system the way we run things here,” Noyes said. “So I think for me it took a little bit longer just to kind of get used to the flow of how we do things, specifically on offense.”

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“I definitely would not say this is a rebuilding year,” said Noyes. “We’ve got a lot of guys that have played a lot of years of college basketball. I think in the weeks that we’ve played together, I feel like we’ve jelled really well together and I really like the pieces that we’ve added.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what this team can do.”

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