Bucknell Football Travels for Season Opener at Richmond

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell football is on the road for its season opener against Patriot League foe Richmond on Saturday, August 29 at 6 p.m. The Bison are entering a new era of football under Jeff Behrman, who will take the field as Bucknell's head coach for the first time.

The Bison are opening their season with a conference opponent for the first time since 2020, which is also the last time that Bucknell opened the season with a 1-0 record. This will be just the fourth meeting between the Bison and the Spiders in program history and the second as Patriot League opponents. Richmond currently holds the overall record over Bucknell 3-1, but the Bison took the first conference meeting with the Spiders last season in a thrilling 33-28 game in Christy.

Media Notes:

When: Saturday, Aug. 29 - 6 p.m.

Where: Robins Stadium - Richmond, Va.

Watch: ESPN+

Radio: 1070 AM (WKOK)

Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com

Live Stats: richmondspiders.com

Media Notes: Bucknell

Follow on X: @Bucknell_FB

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell opens its season with a conference opponent for the first time since 2020 as it heads on the road to take on Richmond on August 29 at 6 p.m.
The Bison are coming off of a 5-7 overall and 2-5 conference record in 2025.
Sam Milligan (WR) and Brandon Biagiarelli (LB) earned 2026 Preseason All-Patriot League Team honors.
Ahead of the 2026 season, Milligan was named to the Walter Payton Award Preseason Watch List and the 2026 Stats Perform FCS Preseason All-America Second Team.
The Bison were picked to finish 10th in the 2026 Preseason All-Patriot League Poll.
Bucknell returns just one of their four 2025 All-Patriot League players as Sam Milligan, who earned First Team All-Patriot League Special Teams NonSpecialist and Second Team All-Patriot League Wide Receiver returns for his senior season in 2026.
The Bison are entering their first season under head coach Jeff Behrman. This new era of Bison football also comes with a mostly new coaching staff under Behrman with the lone returner to the staff being safeties coach McNeil Parker.
Rounding out the coaching staff are new additions to the Bison family; Travis James (OC/OL), Jeffrey Long Jr. (DC), Rex Rover (WR/Recruiting Coordinator), Mac Austin (TE), Joe Collins (QB), Joseph Torok (RB), Anthony Trotta (DL), Jason Nelson (CB), Tyler Hughes (DOFO/Video Operations) and Kendrick O'Mary (strength & conditioning coach).
Bucknell returned a total of 65 players from the 2025 season and lost 32 athletes from the roster. The Bison rounded out the roster with 35 newcomers ahead of the 2026 season.
Patriot League Football, much like Bucknell Football, are entering a new era this season. With the additions of Villanova and William & Mary, the league has announced a new slogan; "The Power of 10".

Richmond at a Glance

Richmond enters the 2026 season off of an overall 7-5 performance in 2025.
In their first season as a part of the Patriot League, the Spiders went 3-4 in conference play with their three league wins coming over Colgate, Fordham and Georgetown.
Richmond lost its 2025 starting quarterback Kyle Wickersham to graduation, but returns Ashten Snelsire in the QB position for his senior year. Snelsire appeared in 10 games for the Spiders last season, completing 58 of 111 passes for 848 yards with eight touchdown passes and five interceptions.
Spider running back Aziz Foster-Powell returns as a senior for the Red and Blue in 2026. Foster-Powell ran the ball 125 times for 594 yards and four touchdowns in 2025, leading the Spiders in rushing.
Richmond lost its two top receivers from 2025 with junior Andreas Hill being the top-returning receiver for the bunch. Last season Hill had 18 catches for 314 yards and three touchdowns including a 75-yarder.
On the defensive end last season, the Spiders were strongending 2025 ranked 6th in the FCS in total defense (290.3) and 38th in rushing defense (134.9).
Linebacker Carter Glassmyer is returning to the Spiders for a graduate year in 2026 after being one of the defensive leaders last season. In 2025, he played in 10 games and recorded 82 total tackles (40 solo / 42 assisted) which ranked second in the team behind Peyton Seelmann, who has transferred to UNC for the 2026 season. Glassmyer recorded five tackles for loss and three sacks in 2025, which were both team-highs. He also notched a pass breakup.
The Spiders returned 63 student-athletes from the 2025 roster and welcomed 25 new additions to round out the 2026 squad.

Bucknell / Richmond Series

This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams since 2000, when they first met.
Richmond leads the series 3-1 and leads the Bison in Richmond 2-0.
The Bison are currently on a one-game winning streak over the Spiders after defeating them in Christy in a thrilling 33-28 game that ended with a Bison interception to lock-in a win.

Inside the Record Book

Sam Milligan ranks first in touchdown catches in a single game with four against VMI on Saturday, Sept. 13. He also ranks sixth all-time in receiving yards in a single game with 192 yards in that VMI win for Bucknell.
Milligan is currently tied for third in career touchdown catches with 15 and is tied for second in season touchdown catches with 10 in 2025.
TJ Cadden tied for the longest kickoff return (100 yds) and holds the records for most punt return touchdowns in a season (2) and most total return touchdowns (3; two punt returns and one kickoff return).

On Record Watch

Sam Milligan is three touchdown catches away from most touchdown catches in a career (18; held by Tom Mitchell'65, Lester Erb '90 and Will Carter '16).

Milestone Watch

Brandon Biagiarelli is 13 tackles away from 150 career total tackles
Michael Cadden is 48 yards away from 500 career rushing yards
Nick Hoying is nine solo tackles away from 100 career solo tackles

2026 Bison Award Winners

Sam Milligan was named to the 2026 Stats Perform FCS Preseason All-America Second Team and the Walter Payton Award Preseason Watch List.
Milligan was named to the 2026 Preseason All-Patriot League Team.
Brandon Biagiarelli was named to the 2026 Preseason All-Patriot League Team.

Inside the 2026 Schedule

This is the 141st season of football at Bucknell. The Bison played their first-ever game in 1883 and have been playing a consistent schedule since 1887.
Bucknell is scheduled to play 12 games for just the fifth time in program history. With the additions of Villanova and William & Mary to the Patriot League, the Bison have a record-high nine conference games in 2026, with just five home games.
The Bison open the 2026 season with back-to-back Patriot League night games. First up is Richmond on the road on Saturday, Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. and then Bucknell holds its home opener in Christy on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 6 p.m.
Week three features VMI on the road on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 1:30 before heading home to face Penn on Saturday Sept. 19 at 3 p.m. in Christy.
Bucknell then faces an ACC opponent in Pitt for the first time since 1945, the last time these two teams met. They then have a bye week before getting back on the road to face Patriot League opponent Georgetown on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 12:30 p.m.
On Saturday, Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. Bucknell hosts Lafayette at 3 p.m. in Christy before taking on Holy Cross and Lehigh on the road.
The Bison then host Fordham on November 7, take to the road on November 14 against newly added Patriot League member William & Mary and end the season at home on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 1 p.m. against Colgate.

How to Follow the Bison

All of Bucknell's games this season will be broadcast on ESPN+ with the exception of the Pitt game.
All of the Bison's games will be broadcast on 1070 AM (WKOK). The broadcast will also be available for internet streaming on BucknellBison.com.
Bucknell is active on X (@Bucknell_FB) and Instagram (Bucknell_FB).
Interact with the team using the hashtags #ThunderOn and #rayBucknell.

Bucknell University Athletics

Bucknell Football Travels for Season Opener at Richmond

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