Everything You Need To Know: Richmond

By: Kris Wright |
2014FB_ucla_mizzell002b
Taquan Mizzell and the Hoos are hoping to stop a 10-game losing streak. ~ Mike Ingalls

With Labor Day already past, football season is up and running at full speed now. Virginia plays the second of three straight home games to open the season this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The visitor is Richmond, Mike London’s alma mater (1983). Here’s everything you need to know for the contest.

Essentials

Game Nuggets

  • Virginia leads the all-time series with Richmond 27-2-2. That includes wins in the last nine meetings for the Hoos, who rolled 42-19 in the 2012 contest. The Spiders last won in 1946 (19-7).
  • Dating back to last season, the Cavaliers have lost 10 straight games while the Spiders have won five straight games.
  • A pair of Virginia true freshmen provided a 70’s flashback last week against UCLA. Receiver Doni Dowling, a Richmond native, caught five passes, the most by a true freshman in a debut since 1972 (the first season freshmen were eligible to play varsity football). Safety Quin Blanding became the first true freshman to start at safety since Tony Blount in 1976.
  • Richmond’s defense is an interception machine. Over the past two seasons, the Spiders have intercepted 41 passes (24 in 2012 and 17 in 2013). Morehead State threw 48 passes without an interception in Richmond’s opener last week, though.
  • Saturday is Youth Day at Scott Stadium. The first 5,000 kids in the eighth grade and under will receive a free Virginia drawstring backpack and a youth program upon entry.

Spotlight On Richmond’s Money B’s

The Spiders completed 28 passes in their opener against Morehead State and 11 of those receptions belonged to Stephen Barnette and Brian Brown. That’s 39.3% of the completions. These weren’t useless catches either as all 11 receptions went for either a first down or a touchdown. Barnette tallied six receptions for 76 yards and one touchdown, while Brown hauled in five catches for 110 yards.

That’s nothing new for Barnette, who went bonkers as a junior last year. He led the CAA with 1,189 receiving yards off of 76 receptions. He posted five touchdowns. Along the way, Barnette had five 100-yard receiving games and became Richmond’s all-time leader in single-season yards. He’s just the fourth player to surpass 1,000 yards in the program’s history.

“We knew we had this in him,” Barnette’s high school coach Stephen Magenbauer said in the Roanoke Times. “It’s really not surprising. When he left here, I remember saying numerous times, ‘It wouldn’t shock me if that guy’s in the NFL some day.'”

...