Nov. 7, 2009

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UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - No. 1 Richmond watched its potential game-winning 35-yard field goal sail wide left in final seconds as the Spiders were stunned on Homecoming by No. 4 Villanova, 21-20, Saturday at UR Stadium. The loss, Richmond's first in more than a year, snapped the second-longest winning streak in college football at 17 games.

Villanova's Brandyn Harvey made a one-handed grab of Chris Whitney's fourth-down pass for a 29-yard touchdown with 59 seconds and the Wildcats (8-1, 5-1) withstood an Eric Ward-led drive that put the Spiders (8-1, 6-1) in position for another win.

Ward, who finished 23-of-35 passing for 297 yards and a touchdown, marched Richmond 59 yards in seven plays to set up senior Andrew Howard's field goal attempt with 10 seconds left. Ward - the holder - corralled a high-snap but Howard pushed the attempt wide left, silencing the Spiders' crowd of 11,667 - its largest of the season.

It was third of three costly special-teams errors by the Spiders in the loss. Howard missed a PAT after a high snap when Richmond seized its first lead of the game on a Kendall Gaskins TD run with 2:22 left in the game. A botched snap on the PAT following Richmond's first TD resulted in no points. Howard also missed a 50-yard field goal on the final possession of the first half.

After trailing 14-6 at halftime, a 70-yard interception return by Patrick Weldon gave the Spiders good field position to start the fourth quarter. Five plays later, Ward cashed the Spiders in by finding Tre Gray for a seven-yard TD. Ward hit Jordan Mitchell for the game-tying two-point conversion.

Gaskins run with 2:22 left in the game capped a nine-play, 62-yard drive that gave Richmond its first lead. But Whitney led Villanova on a 56-yard drive in 80 seconds and found Harvey, who made a dazzling one-handed grab on fourth-and-11, which the 6-foot-4 receiver turned into a 29-yard TD. Nick Yako added the go-ahead PAT.

Whitney finished the game 21-of-34 passing for 277 yards and three TDs. Although Richmond out-gained Villanova 383-361, neither team surpassed the 100-yard mark on the ground.

Gray reeled in six catches for a game-high 92 yards, while Ward posted the second-best passing game of his career and became the Spiders' all-time leading passer. With 8,321 yards in his four-year career, Ward overtook Bob Bleier (8,057) who played for Richmond from 1983-86.

Linebackers Collin McConaghy and Eric McBride each made 10 tackles and Weldon pitched in nine to go along with his career-long interception return.

Richmond was one of just 10 remaining undefeated teams in Division-I football when Saturday began and their streak of 17-straight wins and six-straight home wins was snapped. The reigning National Champions had not lost since James Madison beat the Spiders 38-31 with a last-second punt return on Oct. 10, 2008 -- a winning streak that lasted 393 days.

It also snapped a streak of Richmond scoring 31 points or more in 15-straight home games.

The Spiders return to action next Saturday at Georgetown for their final non-conference game of the regular-season. Kick off is set for 1 p.m. ET.