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Spiders creep above Tribe

November 22, 2009 12:36 am

RICHMOND

Throw a blanket over the longtime rivals, and it would be hard to tell the difference. Both teams entered yesterday's 119th meeting with 9-1 records. Each had beaten an Atlantic Coast Conference team in its opener.

The defending national champion Spiders were ranked fourth in the Football Championship Subdivision (what you and I call Division I-AA); the Tribe were fifth.

Their season statistics were, to quote Spiders coach Mike London, "eerily similar." So were their numbers in yesterday's defensive struggle, when the visiting Tribe outgained Richmond 274 yards to 239 but came out on the short end of a 13-10 score when the Spiders' Andrew Howard kicked a 48-yard field goal on the game's final play.

Howard's heroics came after Massaponax High School graduate Brian Pate's try at a career-long 52-yarder for the Tribe came up inches short with 4:13 remaining.

"Those were two very good teams," William & Mary coach Jimmye Laycock said. "I think you'd say, two evenly matched teams."

No argument there. But Richmond's slight edge will look huge today when the FCS announces its 16-team playoff field. (Hey, BCS officials: Does this give you any ideas? No? Too bad.)

Anyway, off the soapbox. When the pairings are announced, Richmond (10-1) almost surely will be one of the top four seeds. That means the Spiders will host a first-round game next Saturday, and if they win that, a quarterfinal contest the next week. So yesterday's game wasn't the last at UR Stadium, after all.

"We were pretty sure that the winner of this game would get one of the four seeds," Colonial Athletic Association commissioner Tom Yeager said.

Besides home-field edge and momentum, the Spiders enter the playoffs with a ton of confidence. Senior quarterback Eric Ward yesterday led his eighth career game-winning fourth-quarter drive by completing two passes in the final 14 seconds to set up Howard's field goal.

The Tribe (9-2), on the other hand, may have to take the long road. Maybe they'll get to play on the field named for their longtime coach, but no one will be surprised if they open on the road. To win their first national title, they may have to duplicate James Madison's 2004 feat of winning four straight playoff games away from home.

That's a huge difference for such a tiny gap between two teams. If Pate's kick had been a foot longer and if Howard--whose late 35-yard miss against Villanova two weeks ago was costly in Richmond's only loss in its last 19 games--had missed, the teams might be in opposite situations.

Pate's attempt "was right at his range," Laycock said. "He hit it pretty good. From where I was, it looked dead on."

At least William & Mary has a chance to play on. Last year in Williamsburg, Howard's 37-yard field goal in overtime beat the Tribe--and cost them a playoff bid.

This year, there's time--and incentive--to regroup. William & Mary likely won't play a better team than Richmond in the month ahead. Yesterday's sour taste should serve as motivation to force a rematch.

"This one's disappointing," senior defensive tackle Sean Lissemore said, "but we'll just watch the film and go along with our motto of going 1-0 every week. We'll just concentrate on our playoff game."

Or, as Laycock put it: "We're 9-2. A lot of teams around the country wish they were 9-2 and going to the playoffs. Maybe the guys will think about that tonight and put it behind them."

They have to--and fast. Because there's a good chance the Spiders and Tribe will meet again--this time with even bigger stakes. And if so, who knows what small detail will make the difference?

Steve DeShazo: 540/374-5443
Email: sdeshazo@freelancestar.com