Richmond Sacks Colgate Eight Times in 13-6 Homecoming Win

Colgate threw for 312 yards on Saturday. It ran for four. And in a game decided by a touchdown, that second number, along with eight sacks and four takeaways, told you everything about where this one was won.

No. 25 Richmond beat Colgate 13-6 on Homecoming at E. Claiborne Robins Stadium, scoring 13 unanswered points before halftime and then handing the game to a defense that never let the Raiders into the end zone. Junior linebacker Blake Houser had three sacks and the interception that ended it.

Richmond improves to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Patriot League. Colgate falls to 4-4 and 3-2.

Field goals and a fake

This was billed as a meeting between two of the Patriot League's best defenses, and it played that way from the first snap.

Colgate's opening possession ended with Tramayne Bullock intercepting quarterback Jake Stearney and returning it to the Richmond 36. The Raiders struck first anyway, when Luke Vogeler capped a nine-play, 70-yard drive with a 35-yard field goal.

Richmond's answer came from an unusual place. Facing fourth down at its own 25, the Spiders ran a fake punt, and running back Aziz Foster-Powell broke loose for 53 yards to the Colgate 22. Four plays later, sophomore Kyle Bitsko hit a 39-yard field goal to tie it 3-3 with 30 seconds left in the first quarter.

Vogeler put Colgate back in front early in the second quarter with a 29-yard kick at the end of a nine-play, 76-yard march. At 6-3, the Raiders were moving the ball through the air and keeping Richmond's offense on the sideline.

The turning point: 13 points before the break

Then Richmond flipped the game in the final seven minutes of the half.

Starting at its own 15, the Spiders hit freshman Bryce Allen for 11 yards and Quanye Veney for 25. On the next snap, they got creative. Veney, a receiver, threw a 33-yard pass to senior Jaiden Fair down to the Colgate 16. One play later, quarterback Ashten Snelsire found Fair for a 16-yard touchdown. It was the first touchdown catch of Fair's college career, and it gave Richmond a 10-6 lead with 5:13 left in the half. The drive took four plays and 1:57.

The second blow came from special teams. Late in the half, Colgate returner Tymir Wynn muffed a Richmond punt. Krystian Williams forced the ball loose, and Andrew McKenzie recovered at the Colgate 23 with five seconds left. Bitsko came on and drilled a 40-yarder as time expired.

Richmond went into the locker room up 13-6. Neither team would score again.

Holding the line

The second half belonged to the Richmond pass rush.

Colgate crossed midfield twice in the third quarter and came away empty both times. Houser's third sack of the day forced one punt, and Camden Byrd dropped Stearney for an 8-yard loss on the Raiders' last possession of the quarter.

In the fourth, Colgate drove to the Richmond 40 before Jeremiah Washington intercepted Stearney with 8:08 to play. The Raiders got one more chance with 5:19 left and moved to their own 48. Then Braxton Lassiter and Moses Bailey posted back-to-back sacks for losses of 4 and 9 yards, leaving Colgate facing fourth-and-21 from its own 35.

Stearney threw, and Houser caught it. The linebacker returned the interception 14 yards to the Colgate 35 with just over a minute left, and Richmond ran out the clock.

The players who decided it

Houser was the best player on the field. He finished with 10 tackles, eight of them solo, three sacks for 16 yards, two quarterback hurries and his first career interception. His three sacks matched his entire total from 2025. He now leads Richmond with 61 tackles and 5.5 sacks, and the Patriot League named him its Defensive Player of the Week. For his career, he is up to 97 tackles and 8.5 sacks.

Byrd, who entered the day tied for second on Richmond's career sacks list, added two more, bringing his season total to a team-leading 9.5 and his career total to 27. Daniel Sellers had a sack and six tackles, and Devin Geronomi led everyone with 12 tackles. Bullock, Washington and Houser each had an interception, matching the three Richmond had recorded in its first seven games combined.

On offense, Foster-Powell ran for 80 yards on 14 carries, and that 53-yard fake punt run may have been the play of the first half. Snelsire completed 10 of 20 passes for 116 yards and the touchdown, with one interception. Fair had two catches for 49 yards, and Veney had two for 48 to go with his 33-yard throw.

For Colgate, Stearney completed 25 of 45 passes for 312 yards but was intercepted three times and sacked eight times. Matt Fogler was outstanding, catching 10 passes for 180 yards.

The stats that matter

Start with the ground game. Colgate ran 29 times for 4 net yards. Cole Fulton managed 16 yards on 12 carries, and Stearney finished at minus-18 after all those sacks.

Then the pressure, which never let up. Richmond came in ranked third nationally and first in the Patriot League in sacks per game, and it set a season high with eight. The Spiders finished with 11 tackles for loss totaling 58 yards and now have 31 sacks through eight games.

Here is the strange part. Colgate actually outgained Richmond 316 to 252, won the first-down battle 19 to 11 and held the ball for 34:55. On most days, those numbers win a game. On this one, they got the Raiders six points, because four turnovers and eight sacks kept killing drives before they could finish. The Raiders were also the more penalized team, with 51 penalty yards to Richmond's 40, and every one of those yards stung in a game this tight.

The full numbers are in the box score (opens in a new tab), and Richmond's recap (opens in a new tab) has the rest.

What it means

Richmond has now won four straight at home and seven straight against Colgate. The Spiders are 7-1 all-time in the series and 4-0 against the Raiders in Richmond. They are also 51-37-6 all-time on Homecoming, for anyone keeping track.

More to the point, at 4-1 in league play, head coach Russ Huesman's team is right in the middle of the Patriot League race, with a defense that can win games when the offense does just enough. Next on the schedule was a trip to Worcester, Mass., to face Holy Cross on Saturday, Oct. 31.

For Colgate, this one will sting. The Raiders lost 27-17 to Georgetown a week earlier after giving up 27 unanswered points, and this time they gave up 13 straight. Colgate's recap (opens in a new tab) points to the scoreless second half. It was a tough afternoon for Wynn in particular. The senior defensive back was the Patriot League's Defensive Player of the Week earlier this month after a career day in a 20-17 loss at No. 20 Harvard, and the muffed punt handed Richmond three free points. Colgate's next game was at home against William & Mary, a chance to bounce back from consecutive losses before the stretch run of Patriot League play.

The last word

Colgate did plenty right on Saturday. It threw for over 300 yards, it controlled the clock and it got a monster day from Fogler. It also could not run the ball, could not protect its quarterback and could not hold on to the football.

Richmond's defense made sure all three of those things mattered. Thirteen points was plenty.

Sources: Richmond Athletics recap and box score, Colgate Athletics, FOX Sports box score. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Richmond Athletics.