Richmond decleats UVA in Bronco Mendenhall’s debut, 37-20

FCS Richmond dominated UVA from the opening kick in Bronco Mendenhall’s first game as a head coach in a surprisingly easy 37-20 win before 49,270 fans at Scott Stadium.

Wow, just wow, where to begin. Richmond (1-0) gained 524 yards of total offense, held Virginia’s Air Raid attack to 302, and forced four Cavalier turnovers, converting them into 17 points.

The Spiders never trailed, scoring on four of their five first-half possessions, only failing to put points on the board on their last possession of the first half, when the clock ran out with the ball at the 22 yard line.

Virginia (0-1), for its part, fumbled away its first kickoff return, and senior tailback Taquan Mizzell lost a fumble at the Richmond 5 on the Hoos’ first offensive series, the first of two fumbles that he lost on the day.

Kurt Benkert, in his first college start, put up good numbers – completing 26 of his 34 pass attempts for 264 yards and three touchdowns – but he also underthrew a receiver on a third-quarter interception.

Two of Benkert’s TD passes came in the fourth quarter in garbage time.

Richmond, ranked as high as third in the preseason polls in FCS, coming off an appearance in the national semifinals in 2015, could do no wrong. Redshirt quarterback Kyle Lauletta threw for 337 yards, completing 24 of his 35 pass attempts, for three touchdowns.

Gordon Collins ran for 114 yards on 13 attempts with a 55-yard fourth-quarter touchdown for UR. Wideout Brian Brown had seven catches for 88 yards and a touchdown, and Tyler Wilkins had four catches for 63 yards and two touchdowns.

Richmond ran 76 plays to Virginia’s 55, in large part because of its efficiency on third downs – converting 10 of 17 third-down opportunities. UVA was just 2-of-9 on third downs.

Richmond led 16-7 at the half, the margin lessened because Virginia forced three field goals, with UR dominating the stats, outgaining UVA 307-116.

The score was 23-7 at the end of three on a Wilkins 5-yard TD reception, and the lead bulged to 30-7 with 10:32 to go on an 11-yard TD catch by Brown.