RICHMOND, Va. - Senior quarterback Stacey Tutt completed 20 of 29 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 104 yards to lead No. 23 Richmond to a 38-3 win over VMI Saturday afternoon before a homecoming crowd of 9,853 spectators at UR Stadium.
Richmond never trailed in the ballgame and rolled up 568 yards total offense on 82 plays for a 6.9 average. The Keydet offense managed just 113 yards for a 2.3 average on the afternoon.
Richmond claimed its fifth straight win and moved to 6-3 overall, 5-1 in the A-10, while the Keydets dropped their fourth straight to fall to 3-7 overall, 2-2 Big South.
The teams traded field goals on their opening drives with Richmond striking first on a 22-yard field goal by Joseph Fore - capping a 15-play, 82 yard drive with 8:17 mark of the opening quarter.
VMI sophomore Barrett Way hit the equalizer with his seventh consecutive successful field goal attempt, a 38-yard yard shot at the 3:24 mark of the first to tie the score at 3-3.
Richmond on the ensuing drive took the lead on a three-play, 80-yard possession showcased by Tutt's 64-yard TD strike to Arman Shields to put UR up 10-3 with 2:03 left in the first.
It proved to be all the Spiders would need the rest of the day, but the Richmond offense kept rolling, scoring on four of its next five possessions to break the game open with 35 unanswered points.
The Spiders made it 17-3 when they engineered a 97-yard, 15-play drive capped by Tim Hightower's four yard run with 3:50 left in the half. Richmond struck again at the :10 mark as Tutt found Danny Desriveaux over the middle for an eight-yard score, ending a seven play, 63-yard drive that consumed just :47 seconds and put UR up 24-3 at the half.
The Spiders added two scores on a Hightower eight-yard TD run at the 9:04 mark of the third quarter and a Tutt to Desriveaux 14-yard TD pass that closed out the game's scoring with 1:29 left in the third quarter.
VMI quarterback Jonathan Wilson completed 8 of 10 passes in the first half for 37 yards and was held to one of nine passing for seven yards in the second half before giving way to reserve QB Terrell Allen.
Hightower rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns on 20 attempts while Shields hauled in six passes for 131 yards. Desriveaux led the Spiders in catches with eight for 82 yards and two scores.
The Keydets were limited to just 65 yards on the ground and 48 yards passing on the day. Nat Jackson led VMI in rushing with 27 yards.
Keydet strong safety Marcus Barnes led VMI in tackles with 11 including five solos while UR linebacker Lance Gray logged nine stops and an 11-yard tackle for loss to lead the Spiders.
Neither team forced a turnover.
VMI takes next Saturday off before returning to action Nov. 19 against The Citadel at Alumni Memorial Field at 1:00 p.m. Richmond returns to A-10 action at Towson next Saturday at noon.
GAME NOTES
---Zohn Burden and Gary Price both extended their consecutive games reception streak to 33 games. Burden caught two passes to give him 50 receptions on the season which is the fourth most in school history. Burden aslo moved into the #3 slot on the career charts in receptions and has 154, one more than Ronnie Moore (1972-75). Burden's career receiving yardage now stands at 2,003 which makes him only the third receiver in VMI history to amass 2,000 or more receiving yards in a game. Price now has 115 career receptions and moved past James Wright (1984-87) into fourth place on the VMI career list.
---With 10 tackles including one for loss (-6), senior linebacker Justin Huggard now has a team leading 120 tackles on the year which moved him to 221 career tackles.
---Senior free safety Robert Mason now has 366 tackles which ranks fifth on the career defensive list at VMI.
---VMI did not commit a turnover against Richmond making the third game this season that the offense did not commit a turnover in a game this season.
