#16 Richmond's offense has been among the best in the FCS all season, averaging nearly 500 yards and more than 36 points a game. That was no different on Saturday as the Spiders' offense steamrolled Elon for 499 yards in a 30-10 Richmond win at Rhodes Stadium.
The loss is the fifth straight for the Phoenix and drops the team to 1-7 on the season, 0-4 in the CAA.
After receiving the kickoff, Richmond drove 69 yards in less than two minutes to jump out to an early 7-0 lead and set the tone for the game early on.
"[Richmond] came out prepared," Elon defensive back Chris Blair said. "It was a wake-up call for us. You can't just let somebody come up in your house and knock on the door and let them in, you know. You have to stop them."
The Richmond defense was ferocious on the day, holding the Phoenix to only 17 rushing yards and a mere 141 total yards on the day, 67 of which came in a mop-up scoring drive with less than four minutes remaining. Elon narrowly avoided its second straight game without a touchdown as Kelly Brooks-Muse punched it in from three yards out with less than a minute it to go.
"Obviously, that's not good, and it's frustrating," Elon backup Quarterback John Loughery, who came on for an injured Mike Quinn in the first quarter, said. "You're not going to win with those statistics."
Richmond's ferocious pass rush played a big part in Elon's offensive struggles. Phoenix quarterbacks were under constant fire, getting sacked seven times and hit numerous more, one of which knocked starter Mike Quinn out of the game with an arm injury.
"I think the last couple weeks, [Richmond's] defense has turned it up a notch, and they certainly did in the first half today," Elon head coach Rich Skrosky said. "We obviously struggled moving the ball throughout."
Next weekend the Phoenix head up to Maryland to take on Towson Saturday at 4 pm.