By Tiffany Williams –
Three games into 2025, Rhode Island looks like a team built for the grind. The No. 5/6 Rams are 3-0 after a bruising 9-7 win at Holy Cross, a game that felt like it was being played in the mud even on dry turf. It was defense, grit, and just enough playmaking that carried URI to its best start since 2021.
The Rams got nothing easy in Worcester. Holy Cross, now 0-3 but deceptively tough, gave up just 15.7 points per game this season coming in and again proved stingy. Rhode Island’s opening drive traveled 78 yards on 14 plays but stalled at the goal line, settling for a Garth White field goal. When Holy Cross answered with a 53-yard march and a Jayden Clerveaux plunge for a 7-3 lead, the Rams were suddenly playing uphill.
Devin Farrell steadied the offense with two crisp 20-yard strikes before halftime, setting up White’s second field goal. That drive underscored a theme for URI this year: composure in late-half situations. The Rams have now piled up 17 points in the final two minutes of first halves this season, a sign of a team that knows how to seize momentum when it matters.
The second half was all about the defense. Five sacks, all after halftime, turned Holy Cross drives into dead ends. Moses Meus, A.J. Pena, Sam Ofurie, Rohan Davy, and John Broyles each got home, while the secondary broke up key passes to limit Crusader quarterback play to 157 yards. Even when a phantom pass interference extended a Holy Cross possession deep into Rams territory, the defense stiffened and forced a missed field goal.
Still, the Rams needed one more playmaker late. Taking over inside their own 10 with under six minutes left, Farrell went to work—hitting Connor Finer and Greg Gaines III for chunk plays, leaning on Antwain Littleton Jr. for tough yards, and then making the game’s defining move. On third-and-5, swallowed up by Holy Cross lineman Donovan Comestro, Farrell spun out of the sack and tossed the ball away. It was technically nothing, but it saved everything. On the very next snap, White drilled a 41-yarder—his longest career make—for the winning points with 2:23 left.
The margin was razor-thin, but the message was loud. Rhode Island isn’t just undefeated—they’re showing the DNA of a championship-caliber team: a defense that suffocates, an offense that doesn’t panic, and a kicker who delivers in the clutch. Littleton’s 94 rushing yards on 18 carries gave them balance, while Buchanan, Finer, and Gaines each topped 65 yards receiving, evidence that Farrell has multiple trustworthy targets.
It’s also worth remembering the historical stakes. This is just the 10th time in program history the Rams have started 3-0. The last time was 2021, and the year before that, 2001, when they rattled off a 7-0 start. Those years are etched into Rhode Island football lore, and this group is positioning itself to join them.
Holy Cross deserves credit—the Crusaders haven’t allowed more than 19 points in a game this season—but moral victories won’t change their 0-3 record. For Rhode Island, the grind continues with a Homecoming date at Meade Stadium next Saturday against LIU. If the Rams keep finding ways to win games like Saturday’s, history may not just be remembered, it may be repeated.