Villanova Football Knocking On Door of Top 10

Villanova Football didn’t dominate Colgate as expected during their season opener on Saturday, Sept. 6, but the Wildcats still managed to climb to the No. 11 spot in both the AFCA and Stats Perform polls for the week of Sept. 8. The Wildcats, who were favored by 19.5 points heading into their game against the Raiders, checked in at No. 12 and No. 13, respectively, in those polls to begin the season.

Villanova needed a 56-yard bomb of a touchdown pass from graduate transfer Pat McQuaide to Lucas Kopecky late in the third quarter in order to defeat the Raiders 24-17… but a win is a win. Colgate struggled mightily during the 2024 season, playing to a 2-10 record, but this year’s team seems to have a lot more fight in them after playing close games against Monmouth and Villanova, both ranked amongst the Top 25 in the FCS, in consecutive weeks.

The Raiders managed to hang more than 40 points on Monmouth despite starting quarterback Zach Osborne missing most of the second half of that game, so Villanova’s defensive performance, limiting Osborne to just 17 points in a full game of work, might end up aging like fine wine.

Villanova Football will face an even stiffer challenge this week, as they’ll travel to face the Penn State Nittany Lions, currently ranked as the No. 2 team in the FBS (and, by extension, the entire country). That game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13.