NEWARK, Del. -- Even after an uneven performance that turned potentially disastrous late in the game, Pat Devlin still came within a fingertip of being the hero in his first home game for his new team.The high-profile Penn State transfer, starting his second game at FCS Delaware Saturday, hit wide receiver Mark Schenauer on a 33-yard pass to the Richmond 9-yard line with just over two minutes left, setting up a potential game-winning field goal that would have upset the top-ranked defending national champions, just a week after Richmond had knocked off top-division Duke.
But four plays later, Richmond 's Kevin Grayson, also a starting wide receiver, blocked Jon Striefsky's 23-yarder with 38 seconds to go, preserving the Spiders' 11th straight win, 16-15, and further dampening the mood of the soaked crowd of 20,800 at Delaware Stadium.
Two possessions earlier, Devlin – the redshirt junior who left Penn State at the end of last season – had been intercepted near midfield by safety Darryl Hamilton, who returned it to the Delaware 10. Andrew Howard's 23-yard field goal had given Richmond (2-0, 1-0 Colonial) its only lead with 5:54 left. Devlin then threw three straight incompletions on the ensuing possession by Delaware (1-1, 0-1).
"It was a good comeback after throwing the interception,'' a downcast Devlin said of the pass to Schenauer. "But it's tough, it's just tough.''
In a game that bore no resemblance to the teams' last meeting at Delaware, in 2007 – a 62-56 five-overtime Richmond win over the Joe Flacco-led Blue Hens – defense and special teams dominated. The better quarterback was the Spiders' fourth-year starter Eric Ward, who was 22-for-32 for 247 yards, an interception and a touchdown and ran for a game-high 46 yards and another score.
"I think you can learn something from every game and every quarterback you meet,'' said Devlin, who was 15-for-31 for 167 yards, was sacked twice and saw at least four balls dropped, but plain misfired on several in the second half. He also scored Delaware's only touchdown, on a 7-yard run in the third quarter.
The final field-goal attempt was set up by a shanked 18-yard punt by Brian Radford that gave Delaware the ball at the Richmond 42 with 2:15 left. Devlin immediately found Schenauer down the middle in single coverage and connected.
Grayson, a 6-3 junior and Richmond 's best leaper, saved the day for the Spiders. When the kick struck his hand, he said, "I was the happiest person in .''
