A vote for the Spiders

Senior running back Corey Lewis (1) powered through Maine's defense in the second half of their playoff game Nov. 29. Northern Iowa won 40-15. Jack Cosgrove's Maine squad lost 44-17 at UR and 40-15 at Northern Iowa.

An informed source -- the most informed source, really -- believes the University of Richmond will win today at Northern Iowa in the FCS semifinals.

Maine is the only team that has played both UR and UNI this season. The Spiders beat visiting Maine 44-17 in September. Northern Iowa beat visiting Maine 40-15 two weeks ago in the FCS tournament's opening round.

"I make no bones about it, and I hope this doesn't put pressure on [the Spiders], but I think they're going to win the game," Maine coach Jack Cosgrove said. "They should win the game. I think they're a better team."

Richmond (11-3), however, will operate on foreign turf at Northern Iowa (12-2). The Panthers have Astroturf, a surface on which most of UR's players have never competed. And then there is the overall atmosphere of UNI-Dome, the 16,324-seat arena in which the Panthers have gone 168-41-1.

The Spiders talked this week about the possible need for hand signals to communicate in an environment that's likely to be the loudest in which they've ever played.

"It got to our guys," Cosgrove said. "We had not had [a false-start] penalty all season. Not one. We had four in that game."

But Cosgrove believes that UR's ability to run the ball and the overall strength of its defense will be the deciding factors in this meeting of the third-place finisher in the CAA South (Richmond) and the Missouri Valley Conference champion (UNI).

Richmond's defensive quickness will be able to handle Corey Lewis, Northern Iowa's all-time leading rusher (3,926 yards), Cosgrove suggested, and make the game highly challenging for UNI quarterback Pat Grace.

"The guy that hurt us was the quarterback," Cosgrove said. "I told our guys, 'We're going to make their quarterback beat us.' And he did. He had a great game against us running and throwing."

But Cosgrove acknowledged that UR's defense is superior to his, and he doesn't project Grace having a comparable impact.

Richmond coach Mike London tried to replicate the noise the Spiders will encounter in the UNI-Dome by playing loud music during practices. The Spiders left Thursday for Cedar Falls, Iowa, so they could get in two workouts on the facility's Astroturf in the 64 pairs of new cleats that UR purchased for this game.

"It is unusual," UNI coach Mark Farley said of Richmond's request for two practices in the UNI-Dome. "[But] we've got a great venue here and we're proud of it. If it gives them the opportunity to get in a comfort zone, we have no qualms about it." Contact John O'Connor at (804) 649-6233 or .