The Richmond Spiders defeated the Montana Grizzlies 24-7 Friday evening to win the national championship of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Richmond finished the season 13-3, Montana 14-2.
It’s Richmond’s first national championship in football. They defeated three-time defending national champion Appalachian State in the quarter finals. Montana has won the national championship twice; this was their fourth time as national runner-up.
Sixteen teams competed in the FCS playoffs, which began November 29th. There are 122 FCS schools.
Meanwhile back in the Bowl Championship Subdivision, Saturday will feature BYU 10-2, Navy 8-4, four teams that are 7-5, and a couple of teams that are 6-6 in four meaningless bowl games.
Richmond is the alma mater of Byron, one of the two official sons-in-law of NewMexiKen.
Richmond is the biggest rival of my alma mater, William and Mary. Our family went to the regular season finale between the two teams. It went into overtime before Richmond won, thus earning a trip to the playoffs. Then they go on to win the whole darn thing.
The head coach at Richmond, Mike London, was the defensive line coach at William and Mary when I worked for the athletic department there. He is a very good guy. Watching his post-game interview last night was very moving. He is a former Richmond player, in his first year as a head coach, and he was just undone by what had just happened to him.
The defensive coordinator, Russ Huesman, was also a long-time assistant at W&M. At the game in Williamsburg in November, we saw him after the game at Paul’s, the hangout/bar across the street from the stadium. He said, “Oh, I spent the whole second half over here. How did the game turn out?” Based on what I remember of him, he may not have been joking.
Based on holding Montana to 7 points, I’d say the defensive coordinator did his job all game last night.
Richmond Spiders – Official Athletic Site