CAA Showdown Saturday As Villanova Visits Richmond
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Villanova Wildcats will play their biggest game of the season to this point on Saturday when they head down to Virginia to visit the Richmond Spiders.
Villanova (ranked as high as #11 in FCS) is 5-1 after hammering Rhode Island last weekend, 35-0.
"We did this two weeks in a row, scored the first four times we had the football," Villanova head coach Andy Talley tells KYW Newsradio. "And of course, that momentum is tremendous going into halftime with the score 28-0. We just sort of swept them off the field and it was just one of those days where everything clicked."
Listen to the entire interview with Villanova's Andy Talley:
The Wildcats are rolling right now. They have won five straight and in the last two weeks they have beaten Rhode Island and Elon by a combined score of 77-7, riding some absurdly good defensive performances to victory. In those last two games, the Wildcats have surrendered a TOTAL of just 12 first downs and 233 yards of offense. The only points they allowed came against Elon when the Wildcats were already up 42-0. On offense, Villanova is getting efficient play from quarterback Zach Bednarczyk and they continue to enjoy tremendous success in the running game.
"I think where we need to be right now is exactly where we are," Talley says. "Right in the heart of the schedule with a lot of momentum. Feel really good about our team and our health is pretty good. So we have a chance to make a run."
This game should be a lot of fun because Richmond is also really good and also playing really well. The Spiders are 5-1 (ranked as high as #6 in FCS) and have a win over an FBS school, Virginia, on their resume already. Last week, they beat a previously undefeated Albany team, 36-30, in triple-overtime.
"They have a great quarterback, (Downingtown East HS product) Kyle Lauletta and I know that he was predicted to be the Player of the Year in the CAA," Talley says. "So he'll give us fits, he can throw and run, he's a mobile quarterback. They have some excellent receivers and a very, very good defensive team that's really, really fast."
Last season these teams met on the Main Line, with Villanova winning, 21-20.
Saturday's game in Richmond gets underway at 3:30pm.
