Villanova Football Climbs Into Top 15; Mace Player of the Week

Villanova Football made it back into the FCS Top 25 for the first time since losing to Monmouth, climbing up to No. 15 in the Stats Perform poll and No. 14 in the AFCA Coaches poll for the week of Monday, Oct. 13.

The Wildcats (4-2, 3-1 CAA) came out on top in a tough road matchup on Saturday, Oct. 11, knocking off the Elon Phoenix 29-21 with the help of a late kickoff return touchdown from running back Ja’briel Mace, his second in the past three weeks. The CAA named Mace a Co-Special Teams Player of the Week alongside North Carolina A&T kicker Andrew Brown.

After coming back from a 14-3 second half deficit, Villanova trailed 21-20 with barely five minutes to play following a late Elon touchdown. Mace raced 97 yards to the end zone on the following play, sucking the life out of the home crowd and powering the Wildcats to their third consecutive win. Although he’s the No. 3 running back on the depth chart behind David Avit and Isaiah Ragland, Mace has five touchdowns in the Wildcats’ past three games along with two Special Teams Player of the Week selections; he also won the award following Villanova’s win over William & Mary.

Now in sole possession of third place in the CAA behind No. 16 Rhode Island (3-0) and No. 11 Monmouth (2-0), the latter of whom holds a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Wildcats, Villanova Football will return home to host Hampton (2-5, 0-3 CAA) at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 18.

The Phoenix are the only other CAA team to receive top 25 votes.