RICHMOND, Va. — The University of Maine football team fell behind early against No. 19 Richmond and was unable to recover in a 48-17 loss Saturday.

Sure, it was cold and soggy, but Maine Coach Jack Cosgrove wasn’t using that as an excuse for his team dropping its third game to fall to 1-3 overall and 1-1 in the Colonial Athletic Conference.

“That was a butt-kicking,” Cosgrove said. “Sunny day, rainy day, that was a butt-kicking.”

Maine quarterback Dan Collins went 16 of 31 for 154 yards, and threw one touchdown and one interception. Nigel Beckford led the ground game with 75 yards on 17 carries.

Richmond (3-1, 1-0 CAA) took less than two minutes to take the lead when quarterback Kyle Lauletta rolled right and hit receiver Reggie Diggs for a 27-yard touchdown.

The Maine offense sputtered with a three-and-out and the Spiders quickly struck again.

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On the first play, Lauletta completed a 74-yard touchdown pass to Brian Brown, and just three minutes and five Richmond offensive plays into the game, the Black Bears trailed 14-0.

Brown caught seven passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns.

The Maine offense was able to gather itself on its next possession, putting together a 16-play drive.

Beckford did much of the heavy lifting, and the drive was capped by Collins completing a 3-yard touchdown pass to Micah Wright.

Richmond took a 17-7 lead with a 33-yard field goal, and came back quickly for more.

On the next offensive play, Collins threw the ball directly into the hands of Richmond’s Justin Rubin, who returned the ball to the Black Bears’ 16. Maine’s defense managed to hold the Spiders to a field goal that made it 20-7 midway through the second quarter.

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The Black Bears responded with a 30-yard field goal by Sean Decloux to cut the lead to 10 at halftime.

But Maine did not grab the momentum after that. The offense went three-and-out on its first possession of the second half and Richmond took advantage.

The Spiders drove 82 yards and capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run by Seth Fisher that ballooned the lead to 27-10 a little more than halfway through the third quarter.

“I thought our guys battled back, and 20-10 at the half with us getting the ball gave us some hope,” Cosgrove said. “But we didn’t do anything with the first drive, then they scored to make it 27-10 and really took charge of the game, and that was a statement by them.”

But the Black Bears weren’t done, putting together their best drive when the game was already out of hand.

Collins drove Maine 85 yards in just 2:39, finishing with a 4-yard run by Sacoy Malone that pulled the Black Bears within 10 points.

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But at the end of the third quarter leading into the fourth, Richmond drove 75 yards for a touchdown to take a 34-17 lead.

It only got worse from there on the following drive. Maine punter Sam Lenson’s knee touched the ground as he was fielding the snap, which again gave the Spiders outstanding field position.

On the first play, Lauletta connected with Diggs for his second touchdown catch of the game to extend the lead to 41-17.

Richmond tacked on another touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Cosgrove inserted reserve quarterback Drew Belcher to relieve Collins midway through the fourth quarter. Belcher completed 8 of 13 passes for 57 yards and threw one interception.

“This was a big win for us,” Richmond Coach Danny Rocco said. “First conference game against a program that I have a lot of respect for.”


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