North Carolina A&T at Richmond, Saturday, 2:00
In a rare scenario, North Carolina A&T had to lose their last game to reach the playoffs. They ended up second in the MEAC and the conference winner will go to the Celebration Bowl. It was not a bad consolation prize for the Aggies. The 9-2 team beat Kent State early in the season and their only losses came at Tulsa and at North Carolina Central in the last week of the regular season. Running back Tarik Cohen is the star of the team and the player Richmond will have to stop. Quarterback Lamar Raynard has had some good outings as well, but he may need to have the game of his career if the Aggies are going to advance to North Dakota in the second round.
Richmond’s defense has proven to be susceptible to balanced offenses, like when they gave up 47 points to James Madison on November 5th. North Carolina A&T is no James Madison though. As long as the pass defense can continue to play well despite the season ending injury to David Jones, Richmond will be looking to win a game or two in the playoffs.
The key to this game though will likely be the Richmond offense against the North Carolina A&T defense. Overall the Aggies defense has played very well, but in their two losses, they allowed 58 points and 42 points. Somehow North Carolina A&T will have to find a way to slow down 3,000 yard passer Kyle Lauletta and 1,000 yard receiver Brian Brown. When those two are clicking, the Spiders are very difficult to beat. However, Richmond has struggled at times due to the lack of a consistent ground game. Deontez Thompson should be able to get some yards against North Carolina A&T though and help pave the way for a Lauletta and Brown to score plenty of points against the Aggies.
Projected Score: Richmond 41, North Carolina A&T 17
