Villanova Wildcats (NCAA 11)

[superjames1992]

New York, NY - The Villanova Wildcats have long participated in the Big East in college basketball. In fact, they were Big East participants in all of their sports except for football. But that all changed today.

After the collapse of the UConn football program this offseason amid scandals and NCAA sanctions, Villanova has been summoned up to participate in FBS football as soon as possible and they won't even have time to become independent for a few years before moving into the Big East as UConn did earlier this decade.

Instead, the Wildcats will jump straight from the Colonial Athletic Conference right up to Big East football in one season to replace UConn. Granted, the Wildcats won the FCS National Championship this past season, but this will be a tough task as the level of competition between FCS football and football in an automatic-qualifying conference is like night and day.

Villanova head coach Andy Talley left the program for greener pastures earlier this offseason to coach in the Sun Belt. Perhaps, he may be regretting his move now?

Brand new head coach James Frizzell will be taking the reins at Villanova now. Fresh out of coaching high school football, he has extremely little experience and it is quite appalling that someone with so little qualifications will be coaching football in a BCS conference this coming year, but nonetheless, it will happen.

[superjames1992]

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[superjames1992]

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[superjames1992]

2010 Villanova Wildcats Season Preview

The Villanova Wildcats will kick off the 2010 season as the defending FCS champions, but they will no longer face off against their typical FCS foes. Instead, they will battle the likes of Penn State, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia this season as they make the move to FBS football full-time. It will likely be a shaky year and could be downright disastrous, but moving from FCS to FBS football will almost always have some growing pains to go along with it.

The Wildcats' non-conference slate sets up nicely as does the conference slate. In non-conference play, the Wildcats will get four winnable games against Temple, Army, Buffalo, and Vanderbilt. They also play at #18 Penn State, but that game might as well be written off as a loss right now.

In conference play, the Wildcats get #16 Pittsburgh, #24 Cincinnati, and West Virginia all at home as the schedule sets up quite favorably. Unfortunately, those are the only three conference home games for the Wildcats and they'll likely go 0-3 in those. The Wildcats will only play five home games this season overall with non-conference opponents Army and Buffalo coming to Philadelphia.

The Villanova roster is thin and lacking at many positions. Defensively, the team is downright slow, but the Wildcats have a decent offensive attack and can run and throw the football well. Senior left tackle Ben Ijalana is unquestionably the best player on the team and will likely be drafted into the NFL this offseason.

15 of the Wildcats' starters are seniors this season, including eight of the 11 defensive starters, so there is a lot of experience with this crop of players.

Starters

Offense:
QB Chris Whitney, Sr (75)
RB Aaron Ball, Sr (70)
FB Miller Edwards, Jr (69)
WR Matt Szczur, Sr (79)
WR Dorian Wells, Jr (73)
TE Chris Farmer, Sr (69)
LT Ben Ijalana, Sr (87)
LG Brant Clouser, Sr (70)
C Donovan Allieri, Fr (74)
RG Ross Hall, Fr (71)
RT Chris Otten, Sr (72)
Defense:
DE Mario Johnson, Sr (71)
DE Marlon Johnson, So (71)
DT Thomas Weaver, Sr (71)
DT Alex Behm, Sr (70)
LOLB Marquis Kirkland, Sr (70)
MLB Jacob Wade, Sr (71)
ROLB Terrence Thomas, Sr (75)
CB James Pitts, Sr (72)
CB Eric Loper, So (70)
FS John Dempsey, Sr (71)
SS Ronnie Akins, So (67)
Special Teams:
K/P Nick Yako, So (72)

2010 Villanova Football Schedule

8/28/10 at Temple

9/4 at #18 Penn State

9/11 vs. Army

9/18 vs. Buffalo

9/26 at Vanderbilt

10/1 at Rutgers

10/16 at Louisville

10/22 vs. West Virginia

11/3 vs. #16 Pittsburgh

11/13 at Syracuse

11/20 vs. #24 Cincinnati

11/27 at South Florida

Projected Record: 4-8 (1-6 Big East)

[superjames1992]

Last-Minute Touchdown Hands Nova Victory Over Temple



The Villanova Wildcats (1-0, 0-0 Big East) kicked off their season on the right note this afternoon as they defeated their cross-town rivals, the Temple Owls (0-1, 0-0 MAC), 42-41. For a game in which both schools hope grows into a passionate rivalry, it sure got off on the right foot as this was a back-and-forth battle which was not decided until the final whistle blew.

With 1:57 remaining, Villanova received the kickoff down 41-35. A touchdown and an extra point would win the game. With that in mind, senior quarterback Chris Whitney and the Villanova offense drove the ball down the field with ease and punched the ball into the end zone with just under a minute remaining.

The Wildcats' defense had been beaten up all day by a fearsome Temple rushing attack to the tune of 230 rushing yards. Unfortunately for the Owls, running the ball would not do much good in this situation as they needed to get in field goal range quickly. This played into Villanova's favor as Temple went four-and-out on their final possession, turning the ball back over to the Wildcats, who kneeled the ball once to seal the deal.

Chris Whitney was a huge reason why Villanova won this ball game. Despite throwing a very costly interception which was returned for a touchdown in the second half, he was absolutely on fire. Whitney threw for 415 yards and tossed four touchdown passes. His performance was needed as the running lanes simply never opened up for senior running back Aaron Ball, who only managed 25 yards rushing on 16 carries.

On the other hand, the Temple Owls only had moderate success in the passing game, but were absolutely dominant running the football. Sophomore running back Bernard Pierce rushed for 201 yards and a pair of scores on 30 carries for the Owls.

"This is obviously a huge win for us and this program," said first-year head coach James Frizzell. "We have a very tough, if not impossible, task next week in taking on Penn State in Happy Valley, but it's still great to get off to a 1-0 start."

The Wildcats will almost be assured of a loss next week at #18 Penn State, but their final three non-conference games against Army, Buffalo, and Vanderbilt are quite winnable. This games are huge for the Wildcats' bowl chances as wins may not be as easy to come by once Big East Conference play starts.

Aug 28, 2010 - NOVA at TEM
TEAM	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Villanova (1-0)	0	14	14	14	42
Temple (0-1)	7	14	7	13	41

Team Stats Comparison
NOVA		TEM
486	Total Offense	427
67	Rushing Yards	230
419	Passing Yards	197
19	First Downs	22
10	Punt Return Yards	15
130	Kick Return Yards	115
626	Total Yards	557
4	Turnovers	3
6-13	3rd Down Converstion	2-9
0-0	4th Down Conversion	0-1
0-0	2-Point Conversion	0-0
4-4-0	Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals	4-2-2
7-50	Penalties	9-70
18:33	Posession Time	17:27

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		NOVA	TEM
3:58	(TEM) 2 yard pass from Charlton to Campbell	0	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		NOVA	TEM
8:37	(TEM) 26 yard pass from Charlton to Nixon	0	14
2:53	(TEM) 1 yard run by Pierce	0	21
2:32	(NOVA) 71 yard pass from Whitney to White	7	21
0:14	(NOVA) 3 yard run by Ball	14	21
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		NOVA	TEM
8:11	(TEM) 28 yard run by Pierce	14	28
3:55	(NOVA) 8 yard pass from Whitney to Dennis	21	28
0:48	(NOVA) 2 yard run by Doss	28	28
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		NOVA	TEM
7:40	(TEM) 24 yard interception return by Kroboth	28	35
6:58	(NOVA) 34 yard pass from Whitney to Wells	35	35
5:01	(TEM) 36 yard field goal by McManus	35	38
1:54	(TEM) 34 yard field goal by McManus	35	41
0:58	(NOVA) 13 yard pass from Whitney to Doss	42	41

Villanova Key Players:
QB C. Whitney - 28/41, 415 Yds, 4 TD, INT, 5 Car, 28 Yds
RB A. Ball - 16 Car, 25 Yds, TD
WR N. White - 5 Rec, 185 Yds, TD
TE C. Farmer - 4 Rec, 63 Yds
WR M. Szcur - 8 Rec, 59 Yds
WR L. Dennis - 3 Rec, 57 Yds, TD
LB M. Kirkland - 10 Tkl
LB J. Wade - 8 Tkl, TFL, INT

Temple Key Players:
QB V. Charlton - 21/30, 197 Yds, 2 TD, 2 INT
RB B. Pierce - 30 Car, 201 Yds, 2 TD, 2 Rec, 18 Yds
WR J. Jones - 5 Rec, 61 Yds
WR J. Nixon - 3 Rec, 47 Yds, TD
FS J. Gildea - 8 Tkl
CB K. Kroboth - 7 Tkl, 2 TFL, INT, TD

[Deuce2223]

Good luck with Nova. They have dominated FCS. If they were not so far away I am sure the WAC would love to add them to the conference in real life. So sad they they had to settle for Texas Arlington and Texas State after Montana turned them down.

[JLWebb]

Whitney had a pretty darn good game! Nail bitter!

Good luck with Nova!

[superjames1992]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

Good luck with Nova. They have dominated FCS. If they were not so far away I am sure the WAC would love to add them to the conference in real life. So sad they they had to settle for Texas Arlington and Texas State after Montana turned them down.

Yeah, there's a very real possibility they could be added to the Big East within the next few years (along with TCU), so that's why I decided to go this route with them.

Quote: Originally Posted by JLWebb

Whitney had a pretty darn good game! Nail bitter! Good luck with Nova!

Yeah, it was a crazy game! I was impressed with the offense, but the defense had me shaking my head a few too many times. I wish we could have ran the ball better, as well.