With a coach who's playing hurt, Spiders brace for Yale's eclectic, potent personnel collection
JOHN O'CONNOR·8 hours ago
Russ Huesman is playing hurt. After several days of dealing with a sore throat, cough and raspy voice, the University of Richmond's third-year coach went to prescribed medication Monday. He's hopeful this unpleasantness will soon pass. Huesman has no interest in leaving a team that has won two straight.
Standing between UR (3-3, 2-1 CAA) and the completion of the program's first three-game winning streak since October of 2016 is Ivy League favorite Yale, whose 111-man roster is not solely comprised of heavy-legged intelligentsia from the Northeast.
The Bulldogs have 12 players from California, nine from Florida, eight from Texas, six from Georgia, and several others from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arizona, Tennessee and South Carolina. Their top NFL prospect, 6-foot-4, 310-pound offensive lineman Dieter Eiselen, is a former rugby player from South Africa.
If that eclectic collection of personnel representing an FCS program based in New Haven, Conn., does not grab the Spiders' attention, this should: UR lost 23-16 on Sept. 28 to Fordham, which Yale defeated 48-24 the following Saturday. The Bulldogs led 45-10 at halftime, and finished with 495 yards of offense.
Go back to 2018. Maine won the CAA title with a 7-1 record and advanced to the FCS semifinals. Yale beat the Black Bears 35-14 in late September last season. The Bulldogs (3-1) fell 42-10 Saturday at Dartmouth, which was picked second in the Ivy League preseason poll.
"We did not play to our standard," said Yale coach Tony Reno.
Ivy League schools do not give athletic scholarships - players are drawn by financial-aid packages and some of the country's most prestigious undergraduate degrees - and redshirting is prohibited, apart from cases where injuries cause players to miss extended time. Ivy League programs do not participate in the FCS playoffs.
"When our guys put the film on and they start studying, they'll understand who's coming into town here," Huesman said of Yale. "If we don't practice and prepare well, this team is more than capable of running up scores on anybody."
Yale didn't open its 10-game season until Sept. 21. By then, the Spiders had played three games. UR has never faced Yale, and hasn't played a member of the Ivy League since 1998, when Richmond won at Pennsylvania 34-18.
Richmond committed two turnovers in each of its first four games (1-3). The Spiders did not turn over the ball in a 23-20 win over Albany two weeks ago, or in Saturday's 24-17 win at Maine. In addition to turnover elimination, Huesman had emphasized penalty reduction.
"We had some holding calls that were killers for us," he said.
The Spiders committed 10, nine and eight infractions in the three games leading into the visit to Maine, where Richmond did not draw a flag for the first time since 2013.
"On the practice field, you can hear it, 'Hands inside! Keep moving your feet!'" UR redshirt sophomore center Clayton McConnell said of the instruction related to holding penalties.
Note: UR linebacker Tyler Dressler, a 6-foot-3, 244-pound junior from Covington High, was named CAA defensive player of the week after making 20 tackles at Maine. His 20 tackles are the most by an FCS player this season and the most by a CAA player since 2017. Dressler's 20 tackles are the most for a Spider since linebacker Darius McMillan had 20 against William & Mary in 2011.
