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Save This PageCHARLOTTESVILLE -- Five times the University of Richmond penetrated Virginia's 30. All five times, the Spiders failed to score.
UR picked the worst situations to execute its worst yesterday in a 16-0 loss at Virginia. The Spiders (1-1), ranked No. 3 in the Football Championship Subdivision, were not physically overwhelmed for most of the game.
"The longer we hung in, the more and more excited I got about it," said UR offensive lineman Tim Silver. Richmond trailed 3-0 heading into the fourth quarter.
But ultimately, the Spiders left unfulfilled because they swung and missed when quality scoring opportunities were presented. Pick your perspective: Virginia tightened up on defense when it needed to most, or Richmond erred offensively when it needed most to follow-through.
"We kept getting chances," UR coach Mike London said. "I felt pretty good about 'Man, you know something is going to break for us. Something is going to break for us.' I was waiting for that one big play.
"If you don't capitalize, then you just always have that taste, 'If I woulda, coulda, shoulda.'"
In London's estimation, "Everybody thought we were going to get clobbered." The Spiders didn't, though they clearly wore down defensively in the fourth quarter, a predictable development versus a bigger, deeper opponent. But before doing so, Richmond's defense collected nine tackles for losses, a sack and a pair of interceptions.
"We came in here and we wanted to give it our best shot, and there were points where we fell short a little bit," said UR cornerback Justin Rogers, credited with two of the Spiders' three pass break-ups. "It's not going to bring our spirits down. We've got a lot more games ahead of us.
"We're going to get better."
