2017 Richmond Spiders football team

The 2017 Richmond Spiders football team represented the University of Richmond in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Russ Huesman and played their home games at E. Claiborne Robins Stadium. The Spiders were a member of the Colonial Athletic Association.[1] They finished the season 6–5, 4–4 in CAA play to finish in sixth place.

2017 Richmond Spiders football
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
2017 record	6–5 (4–4 CAA)
Head coach	Russ Huesman (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Jeff Durden (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Adam Braithwaite (1st season)
Home stadium	E. Claiborne Robins Stadium (Capacity: 8,217)

2017 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 2 James Madison $^		8	–	0					14	–	1
No. 11 Stony Brook ^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 20 Elon ^		6	–	2					8	–	4
No. 12 New Hampshire ^		5	–	3					9	–	5
Delaware		5	–	3					7	–	4
Richmond		4	–	4					6	–	5
Towson		3	–	5					5	–	6
Villanova		3	–	5					5	–	6
Maine		3	–	5					4	–	6
Albany		2	–	6					4	–	7
Rhode Island		2	–	6					3	–	8
William & Mary		0	–	8					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Coaching change

Russ Huesman, who previously served as defensive coordinator for the Spiders from 2004–2008 including the Spiders' national championship year of 2008, returned to the program after serving as head coach at Chattanooga for eight seasons. He replaced Danny Rocco, who served as head coach of the Spiders for five seasons before taking the same position at Delaware.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1[lower-alpha 1]	7:00 p.m.	at No. 3 Sam Houston State*	No. 7	McLane Stadium Waco, TX	ESPN3	L 34–48	8,048
September 9	1:00 p.m.	at Colgate*	No. 9	Andy Kerr Stadium Hamilton, NY	STADIUM	W 20–17	6,994
September 16	2:00 p.m.	Howard*	No. 8	Robins Stadium Richmond, VA	CSN MA+	W 68–21	8,217
September 23	6:00 p.m.	Elon	No. 8	Robins Stadium Richmond, VA	WTVR DT3	L 33–36	8,217
October 7	3:00 p.m.	No. 24 Albany	No. 14	Robins Stadium Richmond, VA	NBCS WA+	W 41–38 ^2OT	8,217
October 14	4:00 p.m.	at Towson	No. 13	Johnny Unitas Stadium Towson, MD	FSGO	W 23–3	5,768
October 21	3:30 p.m.	at Delaware	No. 11	Delaware Stadium Newark, DE	CSL[2]	L 35–42 ^2OT	15,710
October 28	3:00 p.m.	No. 22 Stony Brook	No. 19	Robins Stadium Richmond, VA	CSL[2]	L 24–27	8,217
November 4	1:00 p.m.	at No. 20 Villanova		Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA	NNAA	W 22–0	3,508
November 11	3:30 p.m.	at No. 1 James Madison		Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA	MASN2	L 13–20	24,586
November 18	3:00 p.m.	William & Mary		Robins Stadium Richmond, VA (Capital Cup)	NBCS WA	W 27–20	8,057
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

1. Game was originally scheduled for August 27, but postponed and relocated due to Hurricane Harvey.

• Source: Schedule

Game summaries

at Sam Houston State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Spiders	6	14	7	7	34
No. 3 Bearkats	6	35	7	0	48

See also: 2017 Sam Houston State Bearkats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

at Colgate

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 9 Spiders	0	7	0	13	20
Raiders	0	7	7	3	17

See also: 2017 Colgate Raiders football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–1	2016	W, 38–31

Howard

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bison	0	7	7	7	21
No. 8 Spiders	14	34	13	7	68

See also: 2017 Howard Bison football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Elon

	1	2	3	4	Total
Phoenix	6	13	7	10	36
No. 8 Spiders	7	7	12	7	33

See also: 2017 Elon Phoenix football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–0	2016	W, 35–7

Albany

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
No. 24 Great Danes	0	14	10	7	7	0	38
No. 14 Spiders	0	14	7	10	7	3	41

See also: 2017 Albany Great Danes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–0	2016	W, 36–30 ^3OT

at Towson

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Spiders	7	10	0	6	23
Tigers	0	0	0	3	3

See also: 2017 Towson Tigers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–4	2016	W, 31–28

at Delaware

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	Total
No. 11 Spiders	7	7	14	0	7	0	35
Fightin' Blue Hens	14	7	0	7	7	7	42

See also: 2017 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
11–20	2016	W, 31–17

Stony Brook

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Seawolves	7	10	3	7	27
No. 19 Spiders	7	3	7	7	24

See also: 2017 Stony Brook Seawolves football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
2–1	2016	L, 14–42

at Villanova

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spiders	3	5	14	0	22
No. 20 Wildcats	0	0	0	0	0

See also: 2017 Villanova Wildcats football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
12–22	2016	W, 23–0

at James Madison

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spiders	0	7	3	3	13
No. 1 Dukes	0	10	0	10	20

See also: 2017 James Madison Dukes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
18–16	2016	L, 43–47

William & Mary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tribe	0	3	14	3	20
Spiders	0	7	13	7	27

See also: 2017 William & Mary Tribe football team and Capital Cup

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
60–62–5	2016	L, 13–34

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	7	9	8	8	16	14	13	11	19	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV
Coaches	7	9	6–T	6	15	14	13	10	17	RV	RV	RV	RV	NR

References

1. "Seven Nationally-Ranked Programs Highlight 2017 Spiders Schedule". The Official Athletic Website of the University of Richmond. January 17, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
2. Washburn, Rob (August 18, 2017). "CAA PARTNERS WITH CBS SPORTS DIGITAL". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved August 22, 2017.