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.

WILLIAMSBURG For two stretches, University of Richmond defenders lost William and Mary shooters. As a result, the Spiders lost the game. The Tribe pulled a 78-71 upset before 2,104 at William and Mary Hall last night. The Tribe made 10 3-pointers, not an extraordinary number. But three in a row came in the last 1:18 of the first half, and that flurry allowed W&M to take a one-point lead and momentum at intermission. The sequence repeated in the second half. W&M’s David Schneider (25 points) hit two 3-pointers and a shorter jumper in less than 60 seconds, moving the Tribe (1-2) to a six-point lead with 10 minutes left in its home opener.

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.

Cynicism comes easily when the topic is college athletics. So much money is in play. Coaches who earn seven-figure salaries talk about “student-athletes,“ but their primary interest is the “athlete” and contract bonus clauses. Then, there are those “student-athletes” who show up at a gas station armed with a pellet gun or get involved with the community through late-night fights in bars.

Thirty-five seasons after Bob McCurdy brought the University of Richmond’s basketball program recognition as the nation’s leading scorer, the Spiders will face his son. Sean McCurdy starts for William and Mary, where UR (2-0) plays tonight. During the 1974-75 season, a dozen years before the arrival of the 3-point shot in the college game, Bob McCurdy averaged 32.9 points as a 6-7 Spiders’ senior. McCurdy, a left-hander, featured a terrific outside touch and interior moves with both hands. As a senior, he had 11 assists in 26 games.

Where: William and Mary Hall (cap. 8,600), Williamsburg
  Radio: WXGI (950), WLFV (93.1), 6:30
  Projected starting lineups:
*2007-08 stats
  Notable: These teams last played two seasons ago, when UR came back from an eight-point deficit in the final 10 minutes to win 58-55 at the Robins Center. Spiders guard David Gonzalvez hit seven 3-pointers. . . . UR (2-0) has had four and five players in double-figures in wins over Lehigh and VMI, respectively. . . . UR had a school-record 31 assists vs. VMI in a 103-59 win. . . . W&M (0-2) shoots 41.2 percent, and was picked to finish 10th in the 12-team CAA. . . . Guard David Schneider was second team all-CAA preseason.

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.

The 3-on-2 drill, usually seen only in practices, made an extended appearance last night at the University of Richmond.

Brittani Shells had 20 points, Abby Oliver added 16 and Danielle Bell had 13 as host Richmond defeated George Mason 78-52 yesterday. The teams swapped leads for the first 10 minutes of the game, but the Patriots’ 17 first-half turnovers and a 20-7 first-half run by the Spiders put GMU far behind by halftime. Brittany Poindexter and Amber Easter each had 14 points for the Patriots.

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.