Commemorating the CAA Years of the Richmond v. William and Mary Rivalry!

[mojo-spider]

In honor of the historic rivalry between the Spiders and Indians, I have reached back into the Spider Gang archives to put together a souvenir commemorating some of the finer moments of our CAA years rivalry.

It's amateur video from the dawn of the digital age to today’s smartphone technology. These highlights were the best combination of entertainment and quality I could find. I hope they will remind fans of the great UR/W&M rivalry and some of the Spiders finest moments.

Scroll through and find your favorite. It’s sure to get your mojo going for Saturday!

We’ll start with what I think was one of the Spiders toughest and best regular season wins ever. It was the 2009 13-10 defensive slugfest won by an incredible walk off FG. It was a jam packed City Stadium at its absolute best.



Next up 2014 on the Reservation. It was an extremely cold night game. The Spiders needed a win to go back to the FCS Playoffs for the first time since 2009 after being robbed in 2012. Seth Fisher’s TD and a Michael Straus to Reggie Diggs TD pass did the Indians in!





There was quite a celebration that night in the freezing cold parking lot at W&M Hall.



In 2015, Kyle Lauletta’s first season as a starter, the Spiders had dropped two in a row coming into this game with W&M. In a slugfest Richmond prevailed and won a piece of the CAA Championship for the first time since 2012.



2017, the beginning of the Russ Huesman era, brought the W&M game that was Kyle Lauletta’s grand finale. After the heartbreaking injury in the 2016 game, Lauletta goes out a winner against the Tribe ironically on a QB sneak.



After several difficult seasons and COVID, the 2021 game represented the beginning of the Spiders turnaround. This only TD in the defensive battle on the Reservation got the Spiders a hard fought 10-6 win and a 6-5 winning season.

Caleb Drake may have bobbled this TD longer than any one I’ve seen!



2023 with the CAA Championship on the line once again, the Spiders overcame one of the worst calls in the historic series history to survive 27-26 on the final play of the game. The win gave Richmond its first CAA Championship since 2015!

This was the Spiders winning TD:

This is the bogus PI call:

These amateur highlights just scratch the surface of how many great memories there have been in the CAA years of this rivalry. Almost every year there have been CAA Championship and FCS Playoff implications for at least one team and many times both.

Saturday’s final match up as CAA rivals will once again have those Championship and Playoff implications. It shouldn’t surprise anyone if the game takes its place as in the archives of great UR/W&M memories! Get ready for another great battle!

Go Spiders!

 

[urfan1]

Mojo, another job well done!

 

[KE Spider]

Thanks for taking the time to put this together or as Bob Hope would say, Thanks for the Memories. Attended all these games.

The 2009 game was phenomenal. Great game. Great crowd.

Couldn't help but notice a nearly Full Brickhouse in the mid-teens. Give anything to enjoy that level of support again for a deserving program and team.

 

[urfan1]

Unfortunately, I missed the 2009 game in person. I had been diagnosed with swine flu and was instructed to be no closer than 15' from another person. Strange thing I felt no worse than a case of mild flu. I did consider going and sitting on Tribe side.

 

[Ferrum Spider]

Unfortunately, I missed the 2009 game in person. I had been diagnosed with swine flu and was instructed to be no closer than 15' from another person. Strange thing I felt no worse than a case of mild flu. I did consider going and sitting on Tribe side.

All time great game. Got to catch it home on break from school. Wish we could still generate atmospheres like this.

For me the 1998 game is what got me hooked on UR football. Before that I had only been to a handful of games (95 JMU homecoming was most memorable up until this point). But my dad (who hated sports and thought it was a waste) took me to the game and remember a packed house for the game where we just absolutely destroyed the Tribe behind RVA legend Jimmie Miles. Was so upset that the one time our family was out of town for thanksgiving it would be that were hosting a playoff game, got home to see the highlights and was disgusted we lost that game.

The 2008 game was also a classic. Another game I got to catch being home on break and remember walking out of that stadium thinking that was the highlight of the season....little did I know it was the beginning of IMO the most special run in Spider athletics history.

 

[spider fan]

Walking down memory lane back to the years when we played the William and Mary Indians on Thanksgiving Day when that was the only day of Thanksgiving week, other than Sunday, that we didn't have classes with mandatory attendance. Always been a terrific rivalry in the true sense of the word as the teams have been evenly matched over the years as evidenced by the closeness of the won-lost record although both teams have enjoyed long winning streaks in the rivalry with William and Mary winning 15 in a row from 1939 to 1954. Spiders have won ten of the last thirteen to now hold a one game edge overall. Kind of sad the game will no longer be the last game of the season starting next year with the teams being in different conferences. Have a great deal of respect for William and Mary which was aided in one of my first years out of college when the game was in Williamsburg and a fan wearing green and gold walked up to me while I was standing in the ticket line and handed me two tickets free and said enjoy the game.

 

[mojo-spider]

Walking down memory lane back to the years when we played the William and Mary Indians on Thanksgiving Day when that was the only day of Thanksgiving week, other than Sunday, that we didn't have classes with mandatory attendance. Always been a terrific rivalry in the true sense of the word as the teams have been evenly matched over the years as evidenced by the closeness of the won-lost record although both teams have enjoyed long winning streaks in the rivalry with William and Mary winning 15 in a row from 1939 to 1954. Spiders have won ten of the last thirteen to now hold a one game edge overall. Kind of sad the game will no longer be the last game of the season starting next year with the teams being in different conferences. Have a great deal of respect for William and Mary which was aided in one of my first years out of college when the game was in Williamsburg and a fan wearing green and gold walked up to me while I was standing in the ticket line and handed me two tickets free and said enjoy the game.

I too vaguely remember the games on Thanksgiving day...my father was a UR grad...I was a little boy...we lived in rural Virginia, but somehow my father talked my mother into allowing us to go to the game...that would be unheard of now in many families including mine!...my most vivid memory is my father telling me not to pull for the team in green!...I do not remember who won!

Go Spiders!

 

[KE Spider]

You did by attending as a young tot. No doubt helped fuel your love of the Red and Blue and all your contributions to the board. Well played all these years later!