UNC Returns Home as Richmond Stays on Road for Third Straight Game

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina returns home and plays host to Richmond on Saturday afternoon at Kenan Stadium (3:30 p.m., ACC Network).

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It’s a buy game for the Tar Heels (1-1), who are paying the Spiders (1-1), a program on the FCS level of college football, $400,000 to make the road trip here. These programs will face off for their 15th all-time matchup. UNC leads 12-2 in a series that dates back more than 130 years to 1892. It will be the first meeting since 1978, when the Spiders defeated the Tar Heels 27-18 at the old City Stadium in Richmond.

The Spiders are led by head coach Russ Huesman, who’s in his ninth season at the helm. Huesman worked as an assistant coach for Richmond from 2004-08, and served as defensive coordinator during the Spiders’ run to claiming the 2008 FCS national championship. He left for the head-coaching job at Chattanooga, his alma mater, where he spent eight seasons in charge before returning to Richmond in 2017.

The Spiders began the season ranked No. 25 (media) and No. 22 (coaches) in the FCS national polls, but fell out after a season-opening loss at nationally ranked Lehigh by a 21-14 margin. Richmond rebounded and won 14-10 last week at Wofford.

This weekend, Richmond is tasked with its third straight road game to open the 2025 season. The Spiders compiled three straight seasons with nine victories or more while earning back-to-back conference titles in the CAA in 2023 and 2024, before becoming new members of the Patriot League for football. Richmond departed the CAA with a combined league record of 21-3 across the last three seasons. Here are more key areas of note on the Spiders.

FCS Version of Big Ben?

UNC’s defense will square off against a productive veteran in Richmond quarterback Kyle Wickersham. He’s a fifth-year senior and a dual threat, who uses his beefy 6-foot-4, 260-pound frame to wield a physical presence.

Wickersham only played in three games last year after due to an ankle injury that sidelined him for most of the season. But in 2023, he led all FCS quarterbacks in completion percentage (72.5 percent), while finishing with 1,405 passing yards and 10 touchdowns to go along with 402 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground, as the Spiders claimed a share of their conference title.

“He’s just kind of like a Ben Roethlisberger-looking guy,” UNC coach Bill Belichick said Tuesday, comparing Wickersham to the former Pittsburgh Steelers standout. “He’s really big and he’s strong. He’s a physical runner. He’s got a stiff arm, long arms, tough guy to tackle. And he’s a good downhill runner, so he doesn’t shy away from contact. You’ve got to bring him down. So that’ll be a big challenge for us, no doubt about it.”

Through two games this season, Wickersham leads Richmond in both passing and rushing with 266 yards and a touchdown through the air, and 103 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Last week at Wofford, he went 20-of-29 passing for 153 yards and a touchdown, and added 78 rushing yards and another score on 17 carries. Wofford’s defense didn’t sack Wickersham that night.

Spiders Spin Dependable Defense

With a small sample size of two games on the young season, the Spiders have shown noteworthy defensive performances in several specific areas.

For starters, Richmond has been stout on important downs. The Spiders rank seventh nationally out of 118 teams on the FCS level in third-down defense, after holding Lehigh and Wofford to only six conversions in 25 attempts. Richmond also limited Lehigh and Wofford to two touchdowns in five red zone trips.

“Coach (Justin) Wood, Coach (Drew) Anthony, on defense (and) special teams, they’re very sound,” Belichick said, naming the Spiders’ defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator. “They haven’t given up really hardly any big plays defensively. … When you watch them, you see the discipline, the toughness, the consistency, down in and down out.”

Richmond’s defense ranks ninth nationally in the FCS in fewest yards allowed (228 yards per game). In the win over Wofford, the Spiders held the Terriers to just 46 yards rushing and 158 yards in total. And with UNC’s offensive struggles outside of its opening drives, a strong defense, no matter the classification, could prove troublesome on Saturday.

Upsets Part of Long History Against the ACC

The FCS Spiders are no strangers to pulling upsets against power-conference teams on the road. Along with Richmond’s 1978 defeat of UNC, the Spiders have been successful in spoiling what should be tune-up games for major programs across recent decades.

In 2016, Richmond won 37-20 at Virginia, becoming one of three FCS teams to knock off a Power Five school on the opening weekend that season. Richmond also has traveled to Duke and defeated the Blue Devils on three separate occasions in 2006, 2009 and 2011. Historically, the Spiders have an all-time record of 25-130-9 against ACC football opponents. They’ve faced in-state foes Virginia Tech (51 games) and Virginia (35 games) the most frequently.

Although Carolina should take care of business against Richmond — the Tar Heels are 21½-point favorites on Saturday, after all — UNC can’t get caught looking ahead to next week’s road game at Central Florida. A truly convincing performance could provide another building block in the Tar Heels’ development under Belichick, and also an important step in shaking the slow start early on this season.