2015 Richmond Spiders football team

2015 Richmond Spiders football
2015 Richmond Spiders football
CAA co-champion
FCS Playoffs Semifinal, L 7–33 vs. North Dakota State
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
Ranking
STATS	No. 4
FCS Coaches	No. 3
Record	10–4 (6–2 CAA)
Head coach	Danny Rocco (4th season);
Offensive coordinator	Charlie Fisher (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Bob Trott (6th season)
Home stadium	E. Claiborne Robins Stadium

2015 Colonial Athletic Association football standings

Team	W		L	W		L
No. 4 +^	6	–	2	10	–	4
No. 11 James Madison +^	6	–	2	9	–	3
No. 12 William & Mary +^	6	–	2	9	–	4
Towson	5	–	3	7	–	4
New Hampshire ^	5	–	3	7	–	5
Villanova	5	–	3	6	–	5
Stony Brook	3	–	5	5	–	5
Delaware	3	–	5	4	–	7
Elon	3	–	5	4	–	7
Maine	3	–	5	3	–	8
Albany	2	–	6	3	–	8
Rhode Island	1	–	7	1	–	10

+ – Conference co-champions ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

The 2015 Richmond Spiders football team represented the University of Richmond in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fourth-year head coach Danny Rocco and played their home games at E. Claiborne Robins Stadium. The Spiders were a member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). The Spiders finished as a CAA co-champion along with James Madison and William & Mary, who all finished with identical 6–2 conference records. The Spiders received the CAA's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs by virtue of a head-to-head tiebreaker, having defeated both James Madison and William & Mary during the regular season. After receiving a first-round bye and defeating William & Mary in the second round and Illinois State in the quarterfinals, the Spiders lost to North Dakota State in the semifinals, 33–7.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	noon	at Maryland*	No. 18	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD	ESPNU	L 21–50	38,117
September 12	noon	at Hampton*	No. 22	Armstrong Stadium Hampton, VA		W 31–28	3,515
September 19	6:00 pm	VMI*	No. 22	Robins Stadium Richmond, VA (rivalry)	CSN MA+	W 42–10	8,700
October 3	3:30 pm	Maine	No. 19	Robins Stadium Richmond, VA	CSN MA+	W 48–17	7,228
October 10	3:30 pm	Elon	No. 16	Robins Stadium Richmond, VA	STV	W 27–14	8,216
October 17	noon	at Rhode Island	No. 13	Meade Stadium Kingston, RI		W 37–12	6,143
October 24	3:30 pm	at No. 4 James Madison	No. 11	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA (College GameDay, rivalry)	CSN	W 59–49	26,069
October 31	3:30 pm	Albany	No. 6	Robins Stadium Richmond, VA	STV	W 38–31	8,475
November 7	7:00 pm	at New Hampshire	No. 5	Cowell Stadium Durham, NH	NBCSN	L 25–30	4,992
November 14	3:30 pm	at Villanova	No. 9	Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA		L 20–21	6,211
November 21	noon	No. 7 William & Mary	No. 14	Robins Stadium Richmond, VA (Capital Cup)	CSN	W 20–9	8,700
December 5	noon	No. 13 William & Mary*	No. 12	Robins Stadium Richmond, VA (FCS Playoffs Second Round)	ESPN3	W 48–13	7,277
December 11	7:30 pm	at No. 4 Illinois State*	No. 12	Hancock Stadium Normal, IL (FCS Playoffs Quarterfinals)	ESPN3	W 39–27	5,356
December 18	8:00 pm	at No. 2 North Dakota State*	No. 12	Fargodome Fargo, ND (FCS Playoffs Semifinals)	ESPN2	L 7–33	18,105
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

At Maryland

	1	2	3	4	Total
#18 Spiders	7	7	0	7	21
Terrapins	10	12	7	21	50

At Hampton

	1	2	3	4	Total
#22 Spiders	7	3	6	15	31
Pirates	14	7	7	0	28

VMI

	1	2	3	4	Total
Keydets	3	7	0	0	10
#22 Spiders	7	14	14	7	42

Maine

	1	2	3	4	Total
Black Bears	7	3	7	0	17
#19 Spiders	14	6	14	14	48

Elon

	1	2	3	4	Total
Phoenix	0	0	0	14	14
#16 Spiders	7	10	3	7	27

At Rhode Island

	1	2	3	4	Total
#13 Spiders	13	7	3	14	37
Rams	3	3	0	6	12

At James Madison

	1	2	3	4	Total
#11 Spiders	7	21	14	17	59
#4 Dukes	14	14	7	14	49

Albany

	1	2	3	4	Total
Great Danes	0	10	14	7	31
#6 Spiders	17	7	14	0	38

At New Hampshire

	1	2	3	4	Total
#5 Spiders	7	0	15	3	25
Wildcats	14	7	6	3	30

At Villanova

	1	2	3	4	Total
#9 Spiders	0	7	7	6	20
Wildcats	0	7	7	7	21

William & Mary

	1	2	3	4	Total
#7 Tribe	3	3	3	0	9
#14 Spiders	0	7	13	0	20

FCS Playoffs

Second Round – William & Mary

	1	2	3	4	Total
#13 Tribe	3	7	3	0	13
#12 Spiders	14	14	7	13	48

Quarterfinals – Illinois State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#12 Spiders	10	9	6	14	39
#4 Redbirds	0	7	7	13	27

Semifinals – North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
#12 Spiders	0	0	7	0	7
#2 Bison	13	13	0	7	33

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	18	22	22	19	19	16	13	11	6	5	9	14	12	4
Coaches	18	22	23	20	20	18	13	12	8	7	12	16	11	3

Richmond Spiders football
Venues	Tate Field (1891–1893, 1925–1928) West-End Park (1894) Broad Street Park (1897–1916) Boulevard Field (1917–1920) Stadium Field (1921–1924) City Stadium (1929–2009) E. Claiborne Robins Stadium (2010–present)
Bowls & rivalries	1968 Tangerine Bowl 1971 Tangerine Bowl James Madison VMI William & Mary
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
National championship seasons in bold