2022 Playoffs - 2nd Round: #2 Sac State vs #13 Richmond

[SDHornet]

2022 Playoffs - 2nd Round: #2 Sac State vs #13 Richmond

The 2nd seeded/ranked Hornets (11-0, 8-0 BSC) host the 13th ranked Richmond Spiders (9-3, 6-2 CAA) in a 2nd Round matchup in the 2022 FCS Playoffs. Richmond finished the regular season tied for 3rd in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) under 6th year Head Coach Russ Huesman. The Spiders are the 4th of 5 teams selected to the playoffs from the CAA and are coming into this game off of a first round 41-0 rout of Davidson, who is a non-scholarship program and was runner up in the Pioneer League.

In addition to their first round win, the Spiders have notable wins over St. Francis, 31-21, 15th ranked Delaware, 21-13, and 17th ranked New Hampshire, 40-34 as well as close losses to 8th ranked William and Mary, 26-37, and 23rd ranked Elon, 27-30, in double overtime. Four of those games were against the other CAA teams that made the playoffs, with the wins coming in the closing weeks of the regular season. St. Francis also made the playoffs earning the Northeastern Conference (NEC) auto-bid.

Offensively, the Spiders like to spread things out and strike with a lot of quick hitters underneath to soften up the defense to set up some deep shots down the field. In the Davidson win, Richmond went with an up-tempo approach that kept the Wildcats on their heels. Richmond has a prolific passer in Reece Udinski (357/476, 3398 yds, 26 TD, 4 INT) who has an excellent arm and hasn’t made many bad decisions this year. Udinski has led the Spiders to be one of the most efficient offenses in FCS (152.3, 16th FCS). Four receivers have over 50 receptions with Jakob Herres (70 rec, 900 yds, 6 TD) and Leroy Henley (669 rec, 748 yds, 8 TD) leading the team in yards. On the ground, running backs Aaron Dykes (159 car, 663 yds, 4 TD, 28 rec, 171 yds, 2 TD) and Savon Smith (96 car, 487 yds, 1 TD, 27 rec, 179 yds, 3 TD) lead the rushing attack. Both running backs are capable players and Richmond is well balanced between the pass and run, however Richmond is much better passing the ball compared to its rushing game. The Spiders offensive line has good size however they have given up 24 sacks on the year.

Offensive Team Stats

• Points scored per game: 31.3 (3rd CAA/34th FCS)

• Total Offense: 426.4 ypg (138.3 rushing ypg / 288.1 passing ypg) (10th/1st CAA / 75th/12th FCS)

• Turnovers: 4/5 (INT/Fum)

• Redzone: 47/54 - 33/14 (TD/FG)

The Spider defense operates out of the 4-3 and finished near the top of the CAA in scoring defense and total defense. It’s hard to say much having only seen the Davidson game, but the Richmond defense did allow the better CAA teams to move the ball. The only quality teams their defense was able to shut down were St. Francis in their early season matchup and Delaware but they were tied atop the CAA in interceptions (11) and 5th in sacks with 28. Linebackers Tristan Wheeler (105 tkl, 11 TFL, 2 sac, 2 INT) and Philip O’Connor (86 tkl, 7.5 TFL, 3.5 sac) lead the team in tackles. Defensive end Marlem Louis (30 tkl, 12 TFL, 7.5 sac) leads the team in sacks and free safety Aaron Banks (43 tkl, 1.5 TFL, 4 INT) leads the team in picks.

Defensive Team Stats

• Points allowed per game: 18.6 (2nd CAA/7th FCS)

• Total Defense: 321.8 ypg (120.4 rushing ypg / 201.4 passing ypg) (1st/3rd CAA / 23rd/36th FCS)

• Turnovers Forced: 11/7 (INT/Fum)

• Redzone: 21/27 - 16/5 (TD/FG)

Their special teams look pretty pedestrian in the return game but is solid on field goals. Richmond ranks 2nd to last in the CAA in kickoff return average and in the bottom half in punt return average. The Spiders have used two kickers on the season and both made a field goal last week against Davidson. Kicker Andrew Lopez (12/13 FG, 22/23 PAT) is near perfect on the year but used for short range attempts while Jake Larson (9/14 FG, 19/19 PAT) is used for long range and has a long of 48 yards this season. They did have a field goal blocked on the season. Punter Aaron Trusler (46 punts, 17 I-20) has 5 punts of 50+ yards as Richmond has netted 39.5 yards per punt on the season.

Hornet Team Stats

• Points scored per game: 41.5 (2nd BSC/ 4th FCS)

• Points allowed per game: 21.8 (4th BSC/ 29th FCS)

• Total Offense: 480.6 ypg (250.6 rushing ypg / 230.0 passing ypg) (2nd/6th BSC / 6th/47th FCS)

• Total Defense: 372.7 ypg (126.7 rushing ypg / 246.0 passing ypg) (1st/9th BSC / 29th/93rd FCS)

• Turnovers: 11/8 (INT/Fum)

• Turnovers Forced: 9/8 (INT/Fum)

• Redzone Offense: 51/59 - 42/9 (TD/FG)

• Redzone Defense: 28/33 - 20/8 (TD/FG)

If I had to compare Richmond’s styles to teams the Hornets already have faced, I’d say the Spiders have offensive tendencies similar to the dungpilers minus a generational talent in the backfield that can carry them in critical moments but with a much better quarterback at the helm. On the defensive side, they look similar to Weber State with an aggressive and physical front 7 that likes to get after the ball in the backfield (73 TFL on the year). Similarly to the Hornets, in Richmond’s quality wins they jumped out to early leads and forced their opponents to play catchup. The Spiders also take very good care of the ball and are 14th in FCS in turnover margin compared to the Hornets 68th ranking.

Richmond is a good team that is more than capable of beating the Hornets. The key in this one will be who comes out of the gates the fastest and if the Hornet offense can continue to execute in critical moments. Defensively, the Hornets will need to continue getting stops in clutch salutations in what needs to be another bend but don’t break performance. Rain is on the forecast for this weekend and if that materializes for this game it favors the Hornets rushing attack. I think the Hornets finally get a playoff win in a close one.

Sac State is #1! Stingers Up!

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

Both squads match up evenly, however, Richmond has a +8 to -1 takeaway advantage. I think turnovers will decide this game. If Dunniway starts throwing lame ducks it will keep Richmond in the game. Richmond QB set a FCS playoff record for completion percentage in last game, lets hope jet lag sets in, this will be the best QB the Hornets have faced all year.

If there is rain and keeps the ball on the ground, I think the stable of SkatPack, Fulcher, Tau-Tolliver can grind out the win.

 

[Sac_hornets]

I watched that Richmond vs Davidson game, even reviewed the Spiders blog on that game. Everyone seemed to agree that not much should be taken from that game, Davidson is a non-scholarship program and most believe that Davidson shouldn’t be a division 1 program because of this.

 

[stingthemgood]

I watched that Richmond vs Davidson game, even reviewed the Spiders blog on that game. Everyone seemed to agree that not much should be taken from that game, Davidson is a non-scholarship program and most believe that Davidson shouldn’t be a division 1 program because of this.

Yes. The Pioneer Football League is non-scholarship. Congrats for that shocking revelation.

Are you going to let us know next why Jackson State isn’t completing in the playoffs?


Big concerns entering the game from my standpoint are the health of the secondary and if they are healed up from the bye week. This Richmond team likes to feast on any sort of perceived weakness a team has (sometimes to a ridiculous over the top manner) this season now that Cosh came over from VMI. They will run some route combos we have not seen all season.

 

[Sac_hornets]

I watched that Richmond vs Davidson game, even reviewed the Spiders blog on that game. Everyone seemed to agree that not much should be taken from that game, Davidson is a non-scholarship program and most believe that Davidson shouldn’t be a division 1 program because of this.

Yes. The Pioneer Football League is non-scholarship. Congrats for that shocking revelation.

Are you going to let us know next why Jackson State isn’t completing in the playoffs?


Big concerns entering the game from my standpoint are the health of the secondary and if they are healed up from the bye week. This Richmond team likes to feast on any sort of perceived weakness a team has (sometimes to a ridiculous over the top manner) this season now that Cosh came over from VMI. They will run some route combos we have not seen all season.

Who cares about your big concern. Do you always need to be an a-hole on here? No wonder people don’t like leaving comments on here.

 

[Bodega Joe]

Nice write-up SDHornet!

Interesting to read the comments from the Spiders forum.

https://richmond.forums.rivals.com/threads/sacramento-state-11-0.14202/

 

[Stonewall D]

Richmond fan here. Your rushing attack will give the Spiders trouble. When teams run, they tend to run it down our throats. Our Dline has struggled in stopping the run. Our secondary is not as stout as in years past. Our offense came from VMI, we poached their offensive coordinator and their best players. Reece Udinski is a high caliber QB, who is very good. Our best receiver, Jacob Herres, also came from VMI. We can score, but I am not sure we can stop your offense.

The FCS is great. Here are two schools, from capital cities in opposite sides of the country, playing in a football championship game on a Saturday afternoon. These schools would never play each other.

We are glad the BSC was well represented in this year's bracket. You have the premier FCS conference. The MVFC and their schools are hopefully on the decline.

Feel free to visit us at spidernation.com.

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

Who cares about your big concern. Do you always need to be an a-hole on here? No wonder people don’t like leaving comments on here.

Unfortunately there are a couple members here whose primary motivation is to negatively pounce upon the comments of others and/or to stalk those they don’t like. They mostly contribute nothing beyond that.

Very little football/Hornets talk and a lot of nonsensical trolling. They apparently lack the ability to articulate a valid counterargument so they attack the individual instead. Good, great, grand, wonderful.

If you’ve been here a while and posted enough, you probably already know who they are because they rarely deviate from their sophomoric tactics. My guess is life sucks for them and negativity and trolling is all they got in their bag to feel good about. My condolences.

My advice to you is to simply scroll past their handle/post each time one appears and only read/engage with those that are here for serious discourse. That’s exactly what I do once someone proves to me they can’t be taken seriously. They don’t get anymore of my attention. I’m better off for it and so is the forum.

You’re a good poster and I hope you continue to contribute going forward.

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

Nice write-up SDHornet!

Interesting to read the comments from the Spiders forum.

https://richmond.forums.rivals.com/threads/sacramento-state-11-0.14202/

Thanks for posting. It’s always amusing to see opposing fans that know little to nothing about our team speculate like crazy and believe everything they read with regard to Troy Taylor rumors. They don’t seem to know that those writers don’t know any more than they do.

It’s like reading/hearing someone provide a book report or movie review having only read cliff notes or having only seen a 3-minute trailer.

I especially enjoyed the comment on how the Hornets haven’t experienced anything like their conferences physicality. Good stuff.

Lastly, everyone sure loves to focus on and embellish upon the 0-2 postseason record as if it’s some longstanding thing. I’d understand more if it were like 4 or 5 consecutive years. Or if one of the losses wasn’t to essentially the same SDST team that’s currently the #1 seed. But back-to-back losses doesn’t in any way scream “it’s a trend”.

If the Hornets have a lackluster performance against this Richmond team — then I’ll start to see some merit to it.

The first loss was their first playoff experience, not just for the players but for most the coaches. And they had numerous key injuries to their QB, RB and WR.

The second loss was to a SDST team that was a finalist the postseason before and became the #1 seed the following season. They weren’t a typical 2nd round opponent. They were truly capable of winning the whole thing.

I’m not saying Richmond can’t beat the Hornets — but neither they nor Austin Peay from 2019 are/were the same challenge that SDST was last season.

 

[stingthemgood]

Who cares about your big concern. Do you always need to be an a-hole on here? No wonder people don’t like leaving comments on here.

Unfortunately there are a couple members here whose primary motivation is to negatively pounce upon the comments of others and/or to stalk those they don’t like. They mostly contribute nothing beyond that.

Very little football/Hornets talk and a lot of nonsensical trolling. They apparently lack the ability to articulate a valid counterargument so they attack the individual instead. Good, great, grand, wonderful.

If you’ve been here a while and posted enough, you probably already know who they are because they rarely deviate from their sophomoric tactics. My guess is life sucks for them and negativity and trolling is all they got in their bag to feel good about. My condolences.

My advice to you is to simply scroll past their handle/post each time one appears and only read/engage with those that are here for serious discourse. That’s exactly what I do once someone proves to me they can’t be taken seriously. They don’t get anymore of my attention. I’m better off for it and so is the forum.

You’re a good poster and I hope you continue to contribute going forward.

I would love to talk football. I will just always point out when people make idiotic comments. “Davidson shouldn’t be a D-I team” comes from either lack of education or a complete misunderstanding of how college sports work.

I am trying to up the level of content here but getting rid of the weak sauce. We are the laughing stalk of the Big Sky fan bases, and yet we want to foster the environment that makes us so.

I brought up real football points. Look at VMI film from last year. This coordinator is revolutionizing route combos for an air raid style. It’s been toned down this year a bit with a defense minded head coach, but the pieces are in place for us to have a tough day unless our corners who are out get healthy in a hurry.

 

[OldSchoolHornet]

Stingem…don’t worry about the Ohio guy whose entire self worth is wrapped around his online presence. The only time I have ever called him or anyone else on this board is when they act like somehow they know more than the current staff when they have never played or more importantly coached at this level and/or any other level. There’s a couple guys on this site that are positive they are coaching geniuses and look to each other to validate their ego-driven perspectives. Just keep calling them out…they read every post no matter how much they deny it.

 

[Sac_hornets]

Who cares about your big concern. Do you always need to be an a-hole on here? No wonder people don’t like leaving comments on here.

Unfortunately there are a couple members here whose primary motivation is to negatively pounce upon the comments of others and/or to stalk those they don’t like. They mostly contribute nothing beyond that.

Very little football/Hornets talk and a lot of nonsensical trolling. They apparently lack the ability to articulate a valid counterargument so they attack the individual instead. Good, great, grand, wonderful.

If you’ve been here a while and posted enough, you probably already know who they are because they rarely deviate from their sophomoric tactics. My guess is life sucks for them and negativity and trolling is all they got in their bag to feel good about. My condolences.

My advice to you is to simply scroll past their handle/post each time one appears and only read/engage with those that are here for serious discourse. That’s exactly what I do once someone proves to me they can’t be taken seriously. They don’t get anymore of my attention. I’m better off for it and so is the forum.

You’re a good poster and I hope you continue to contribute going forward.

I would love to talk football. I will just always point out when people make idiotic comments. “Davidson shouldn’t be a D-I team” comes from either lack of education or a complete misunderstanding of how college sports work.

I am trying to up the level of content here but getting rid of the weak sauce. We are the laughing stalk of the Big Sky fan bases, and yet we want to foster the environment that makes us so.

I brought up real football points. Look at VMI film from last year. This coordinator is revolutionizing route combos for an air raid style. It’s been toned down this year a bit with a defense minded head coach, but the pieces are in place for us to have a tough day unless our corners who are out get healthy in a hurry.

You don’t bring up real issues, you’re just a clown that thinks he knows more than anyone else. You think your knowledge is so superior to everyone else, give me a break.

You don’t own this site, I suggest everyone who wants to leave comments does so.

 

[Sac_hornets]

Who cares about your big concern. Do you always need to be an a-hole on here? No wonder people don’t like leaving comments on here.

Unfortunately there are a couple members here whose primary motivation is to negatively pounce upon the comments of others and/or to stalk those they don’t like. They mostly contribute nothing beyond that.

Very little football/Hornets talk and a lot of nonsensical trolling. They apparently lack the ability to articulate a valid counterargument so they attack the individual instead. Good, great, grand, wonderful.

If you’ve been here a while and posted enough, you probably already know who they are because they rarely deviate from their sophomoric tactics. My guess is life sucks for them and negativity and trolling is all they got in their bag to feel good about. My condolences.

My advice to you is to simply scroll past their handle/post each time one appears and only read/engage with those that are here for serious discourse. That’s exactly what I do once someone proves to me they can’t be taken seriously. They don’t get anymore of my attention. I’m better off for it and so is the forum.

You’re a good poster and I hope you continue to contribute going forward.

Appreciate Buckeye, I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going to let this loser stop me from posting. I find it funny though how no one responds to his bad takes any way. I agree with you though, he probably does have a shitty live and feels the need to make himself feel better by talking crap.

 

[SDHornet]

Richmond fan here. Your rushing attack will give the Spiders trouble. When teams run, they tend to run it down our throats. Our Dline has struggled in stopping the run. Our secondary is not as stout as in years past. Our offense came from VMI, we poached their offensive coordinator and their best players. Reece Udinski is a high caliber QB, who is very good. Our best receiver, Jacob Herres, also came from VMI. We can score, but I am not sure we can stop your offense.

The FCS is great. Here are two schools, from capital cities in opposite sides of the country, playing in a football championship game on a Saturday afternoon. These schools would never play each other.

We are glad the BSC was well represented in this year's bracket. You have the premier FCS conference. The MVFC and their schools are hopefully on the decline.

Feel free to visit us at spidernation.com.

Welcome to the board, don't mind the trolls. :lol:

This game should be good and the books are way off on the spread. Easy money out there if you are into that sort of thing.

 

[Stonewall D]

Richmond fan here. Your rushing attack will give the Spiders trouble. When teams run, they tend to run it down our throats. Our Dline has struggled in stopping the run. Our secondary is not as stout as in years past. Our offense came from VMI, we poached their offensive coordinator and their best players. Reece Udinski is a high caliber QB, who is very good. Our best receiver, Jacob Herres, also came from VMI. We can score, but I am not sure we can stop your offense.

The FCS is great. Here are two schools, from capital cities in opposite sides of the country, playing in a football championship game on a Saturday afternoon. These schools would never play each other.

We are glad the BSC was well represented in this year's bracket. You have the premier FCS conference. The MVFC and their schools are hopefully on the decline.

Feel free to visit us at spidernation.com.

Welcome to the board, don't mind the trolls. :lol:

This game should be good and the books are way off on the spread. Easy money out there if you are into that sort of thing.

I never like to get into internecine fights on message boards.
Back to football, Richmond is definitely the underdog in this game. Some of the spreads I have seen favor the Hornets by 20 points. There is a reason for that confidence. Your team has run the gauntlet of stellar FCS teams in the Big Sky. The weather will be a huge challenge for our offense, which is pass happy. We don't have the stud at running back that you all have. Everything points to a good showing by Sacramento State.

 

[SDHornet]

I never like to get into internecine fights on message boards.
Back to football, Richmond is definitely the underdog in this game. Some of the spreads I have seen favor the Hornets by 20 points. There is a reason for that confidence. Your team has run the gauntlet of stellar FCS teams in the Big Sky. The weather will be a huge challenge for our offense, which is pass happy. We don't have the stud at running back that you all have. Everything points to a good showing by Sacramento State.

20 points is egregious. I think this will be a close game as I expect Richmond to move the ball through the air (barring a major storm hitting during the game). I don't follow much outside of who is on the Hornets schedule but the CAA getting 5 teams in the playoffs means there's some quality there and going 6-2 in the CAA is impressive.

If you're making the trip, let me know if you need a tailgate to hit up pre-game.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

Richmond fan here. Your rushing attack will give the Spiders trouble. When teams run, they tend to run it down our throats. Our Dline has struggled in stopping the run. Our secondary is not as stout as in years past. Our offense came from VMI, we poached their offensive coordinator and their best players. Reece Udinski is a high caliber QB, who is very good. Our best receiver, Jacob Herres, also came from VMI. We can score, but I am not sure we can stop your offense.

The FCS is great. Here are two schools, from capital cities in opposite sides of the country, playing in a football championship game on a Saturday afternoon. These schools would never play each other.

We are glad the BSC was well represented in this year's bracket. You have the premier FCS conference. The MVFC and their schools are hopefully on the decline.

Feel free to visit us at spidernation.com.

Welcome, think it will be a good game. We have stuff you haven't seen and you have stuff we haven't seen. With the projected weather, it will probably boil down to a predominately run oriented game. I like that we can play teams we otherwise might not have scheduled.
Been to you campus a few times, I live in North Carolina, it is a nice setting. Too bad the neighborhood nearby wouldn't let you build a bigger stadium.

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

Richmond fan here. Your rushing attack will give the Spiders trouble. When teams run, they tend to run it down our throats. Our Dline has struggled in stopping the run. Our secondary is not as stout as in years past. Our offense came from VMI, we poached their offensive coordinator and their best players. Reece Udinski is a high caliber QB, who is very good. Our best receiver, Jacob Herres, also came from VMI. We can score, but I am not sure we can stop your offense.

The FCS is great. Here are two schools, from capital cities in opposite sides of the country, playing in a football championship game on a Saturday afternoon. These schools would never play each other.

We are glad the BSC was well represented in this year's bracket. You have the premier FCS conference. The MVFC and their schools are hopefully on the decline.

Feel free to visit us at spidernation.com.

Welcome to the board. Good to have you here for conversation leading up to this game.

It’s probably a safe assumption that both our fan bases knew little about the opposition prior to the release of the playoff bracket. I’ve seen Richmond play in years past, but had seen nothing from this season until recently.

With that limited viewing, I agree that your offense looks to be quite talented and can score. Our Hornets have been susceptible to long pass plays most the season. They don’t typically put a lot of pressure on the QB and can be vulnerable on the backend. So that’s definitely a concern.

I do like hearing that the Spiders rush defense is a question mark as that’s clearly the Hornets strength. Not only the challenge of the 2-QB system with O’Hara running but most teams find it tough to tackle Cameron Skattebo and Marcus Fulcher. If the Hornets have that in their back pocket consistently in this game, they’ll be tough to beat.

I’m thinking Richmond will scheme to take that aspect away as much as they can and hope Dunniway and O’Hara don’t take advantage with big pass plays. Of course the Hornets have top tier receiving weapons in Martin, Williams and Gipson, so the offensive production might come down to which version of Jake Dunniway we get on Saturday.

 

[Kadeezy]

I don’t know how much the rain would mess with the UR passing scheme - seems like a high percentage of short, low risk routes to physical receivers that like to YAC and will punish bad tackling teams.

The status of Caleb Nelson’s knee can’t be good, Looked like they were doing the Lachman Test on him after his collision with Prince Washington.

I think tomorrow’s two-deep will say a lot….

 

[Kadeezy]

Wow, Nelson is listed as DB 1….

https://hornetsports.com/services/download_file.ashx?file_location=https://s3.amazonaws.com/hornetsports.com/documents/2022/11/29/SacNotes120322.pdf