When: Noon
  Tickets: $25; $10 for youths
  TV : Comcast Network. Radio: WXGI (950), WTOX (1480), 11:30 a.m.
  Records: W&M 6-1 CAA, 9-1; UR 6-1, 9-1
  Players to watch: W&M—DT Sean Lissemore, Sr., 4.5 sacks, 11 tackles for losses; RB Jonathan Grimes, Soph., 92.2 rushing yards per game. UR—QB Eric Ward, Sr., 3-0 in his career vs. W&M; DT Martin Parker, Jr., 5.5 sacks, 14 tackles for losses.

Spiders QB Eric Ward arrived as a member of the 2005 recruiting class. Fifteen individuals from of that class now start for UR. As Jeff Hanson recalls, it was considered a solid class on signing day, not a remarkable one. Hanson has been a University of Richmond assistant football coach for 28 years, so he’s not short on perspective. The group the Spiders signed in February of 2005 was the first brought to UR by head coach Dave Clawson.

1970—William and Mary 34, Richmond 33: Steve Regan, 5-8 and 155 pounds, began the season as the fifth-string QB for W&M coach Lou Holtz. A transfer and injuries moved Regan to starting status, and his 40-yard TD completion to David Knight with 12 seconds remaining lifted the Indians to a victory that secured a Southern Conference championship and invitation to the Tangerine Bowl. “I’m still numb,“ Holtz said after the game. UR was ahead 27-14 at halftime. Down 33-28, W&M took possession at its 20 with 50 seconds left. Said UR coach Frank Jones: “There must be a better way to make a living.“

What’s on the line?

• At least a share of the Colonial Athletic Association championship. Villanova (6-1, 9-1) plays Delaware (4-3, 6-4) at 3:30. If Villanova wins, it also captures a share of the league title.

• A higher seed (home games) in the FCS playoffs. Only four of 16 teams are seeded. Seeded teams play home games until they face another seeded team. If Villanova wins, Villanova and the winner of UR-W&M likely will be seeded, and Villanova would be the CAA’s automatic qualifier (and highest seed) because it beat UR and W&M.

What’s on the line?

• At least a share of the Colonial Athletic Association championship. Villanova (6-1, 9-1) plays Delaware (4-3, 6-4) at 3:30. If Villanova wins, it also captures a share of the league title.

• A higher seed (home games) in the FCS playoffs. Only four of 16 teams are seeded. Seeded teams play home games until they face another seeded team. If Villanova wins, Villanova and the winner of UR-W&M likely will be seeded, and Villanova would be the CAA’s automatic qualifier (and highest seed) because it beat UR and W&M.

Spiders coach Mike London got the itch to coach relatively late. He worked in law enforcement after graduating from UR in 1983. He returned to UR as a part-time assistant during the late-1980s. London got his first full-time coaching job in 1990 at William and Mary, under Jimmye Laycock, who is in his 30th season as the Tribe’s coach.

By NCAA rules, there is one automatic qualifier to the FCS playoffs from the Colonial Athletic Association. By CAA rules, there is flexibility for multiple champions. The University of Richmond and visiting William and Mary meet in what amounts to a CAA championship game Saturday at noon. Later that day, Delaware-at-Villanova could yield a second champion. UR, W&M and VU are 6-1 in the CAA, 9-1 overall.

What could the University of Richmond reasonably do to keep Mike London as its football coach if a Football Bowl Subdivision school makes him an offer he liked? Financially, not much.

Two hours before Villanova played the University of Richmond at UR Stadium on Nov. 7, Dennis Blackburn repeatedly bent over with a stencil in his left hand and a can of white spray paint in his right. Up the sideline he walked, spraying the edges of yard-markers so they would be precisely four inches wide, with well-defined corners. Blackburn, wearing a hounds tooth check hat, then walked to the numbers on the field and touched up each of them with a spray of white. He studied the grass, looking for divots to repair, or other blemishes. There weren’t many. UR Stadium’s grass is “as quality a turf as you’re going to see anywhere in college athletics,“ said Jim Miller, the Spiders’ athletic director.

AMHERST, Mass.—Jamaris Sanders returned a fumble 38-yards for seven of James Madison’s 10 points off turnovers in a 17-14 win over Massachusetts yesterday. Sanders stripped the ball from Massachusetts’ Tony Nelson to give the Dukes (3-4 CAA, 5-5) a 10-0 lead with 1:59 left in the first quarter. Scott Noble had a career-high 105 yards on 29 carries in the Dukes first win at Massachusetts since 1987.

WILLIAMSBURG—William and Mary defensive tackle Sean Lissemore started yesterday’s game with a little bit of a migraine headache. He ended it with a clear head and considerably less cranial pain than New Hampshire. In a playoff-caliber game, the Tribe’s defense was tested time and again by poor field position and turnovers. It turned away several challenges—and created a go-ahead touchdown on Lissemore’s interception—in a 20-17 victory over the eighth-ranked Wildcats.

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The oldest of the Buckeyes sent Ohio State back to the Granddaddy of all bowls. Devin Barclay, a 26-year-old former pro soccer player, kicked a 39-yard field goal in overtime to give No. 10 Ohio State a 27-24 victory over No. 15 Iowa and send the Buckeyes to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 13 years. “None of our kids have gone to the Rose Bowl. I haven’t been there in 25 years [since] I was an assistant coach in the 1985 Rose Bowl,“ coach Jim Tressel said. “There’s nothing like it. It’s a great feeling.“

LOS ANGELES—Toby Gerhart rushed for 178 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 25 Stanford emphatically followed up its 2007 upset at the Coliseum by beating No. 11 Southern California 55-21 yesterday, the most points ever allowed by the Trojans. The loss was the Trojans’ worst since a 51-0 defeat at home against Notre Dame in 1966 and essentially ended USC’s seven-year run as Pac-10 champions.

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Tim Tebow couldn’t have come up with a more satisfying way to wind up a chapter of his Southeastern Conference career, in front of a fellow Florida Heisman Trophy winner and a coach he respects. Today, Tebow and the No. 1 Gators face South Carolina and coach Steve Spurrier, a Florida alum, star player and national championship coach. It’s the last regular-season SEC contest for Florida’s current star passer and an opportunity for the Gators’ (7-0, 9-0) first perfect season in league play since Spurrier’s team did it in 1996.

When: 1 p.m. Radio: WXGI (950), 12:30 p.m.  Records: UR 8-1; Georgetown 0-9.
  Players to watch: UR—QB Eric Ward, Sr., became program’s all-time leading passer last week and now holds every major school QB record; RB Justin Forte, Jr., averaged 105.5 rushing yards over past six games. GU—QB Scott Darby, Soph., made first career start last week; WR Brandon Floyd, Fr., 4 catches for 110 yards last weekend.