Villanova Readying For Local Showdown With Penn
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- Villanova is now ranked as high as #5 in the country in FCS and on Saturday they will make the short trip to Franklin Field to take on Penn.
The Wildcats are coming off a win in their Colonial Athletic Association opener this past weekend. They rallied to beat James Madison at Villanova Stadium, 49-31.
"We turned the ball over in the first half three times, gave them a few more opportunities," Villanova head coach Andy Talley tells KYW Newsradio. "Next thing you know, getting into the 3rd quarter we were down by ten (24-14). That's where we had to figure out if we were going to be able to survive in the CAA. Which we did. We came back, scored 35 points in the second half, and closed the game out."
The victory was keyed by another brilliant performance from Villanova junior quarterback John Robertson. He completed 22 of 27 passes for 337 yards and four touchdowns. For his efforts, Robertson was named the CAA Offensive Player of the Week for the second time in three weeks.
On Saturday, the Wildcats will be taking on a Penn team that lost its season opener last week at Jacksonville, 34-31.
"As usual, they are very talented and very physical," Talley says." And this is a big game for both of us because, you know, it's bragging rights in Philadelphia and it is a tremendous rivalry."
This will also be the final time that Talley will match-up with Al Bagnoli. The longtime Penn head coach is set to retire at season's end.
"First of all, he is probably one of the greatest, all-time coaches in the Ivy League, if not the greatest," Talley says. "Also he came up the hard way, just like I did. Head coach at a Division III school, working your way up, hoping you can get a shot at a place like Villanova and Penn. And he did it. We both had opportunities, and we took advantage of our opportunities. So we're sort of blue collar guys, that were very fortunate, had a lot of luck and a lot of good coaches, a lot of good players."
Villanova and Penn will kick-off at 3:00pm on Saturday.
Andy Talley
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
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