After being on the road the last two weeks the Richmond Spiders (3-1, 1-0) will return home today as the 4th ranked Old Dominion Monarchs (4-0, 1-0) come to town. After the weather ruined the atmosphere in the home opener, clear skies are in the forecast for this afternoon and the Spiders are happy to know that they will be playing at a sold out Robins Stadium. Richmond comes into this game riding a 3 game winning streak. It started with the home opener and a 41-8 pounding of Gardner-Webb; the weather certainly didn’t get in the way of the Spiders. Then two road victories ensued, first a 47-6 win over VMI in Lexington and last in Saturday in Atlanta Richmond fought off Georgia State 35-14. ODU comes into this game not so quiet as well. The Monarchs made national headlines during the week after their 64-61 win over New Hampshire. In that game ODU Quarterback Taylor Heinicke threw for a Division 1 record 730 yards.
To say that this game is a litmus test for the Spiders is not to far fetch as they get their first ranked opponent of the year. And to say we’ll see plenty of offense in this game is an understatement. Fans should be very busy during this game as two of the top offenses in the CAA will do battle, ODU (1st) Richmond (4th). The Monarchs not only lead the conference but they lead the nation as well in scoring offense at 59.0 points per game. The Spider defense is up for the task as Linebacker Darius McMillian has been playing lights out leading the team with 30 tackles in 4 games. In the secondary Safety Cooper Taylor has already won one CAA defensive player of the week award and has 3 interceptions on the year. On the offensive side of the ball Quarterback John Laub has been a leader for the Spiders. Against Georgia State the Redshirt Senior accounted for 4 touchdowns as he ran in 3 and threw for 1. Laub currently ranks 2nd in the CAA in passing and is the Spiders 2nd leading rusher. ODU leads the series 1-0 as the two teams last and first meeting was last season.
