Villanova Football Tumbles in Rankings After Season-Opening Miscues

Villanova Football fell exactly ten spots in both the Stats Perform and AFCA Coaches polls after their season-opening loss to William & Mary, checking in at No. 18 and No. 17, respectively.

Lehigh (No. 10/No. 10), William & Mary (No. 17/No. 19) and Richmond (unranked/No. 23) also made the top 25 in at least one of the polls. Turnovers broke Villanova’s back against the Tribe, with three interceptions from quarterback Pat McQuaide and a fumble from running back Ja’briel Mace. Other botched plays like a William & Mary onside kick recovery and a failed fourth down conversion helped seal the Wildcats’ fate.

For all their inconsistency, Villanova made strong plays on both side of the ball. They’ll return to action at Bucknell beginning at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5, a chance to make it to .500 in Patriot League play. The Bison lost 35-14 on the road to Richmond, another conference contender, in their season opener.

DraftKings Sportsbook now lists the Wildcats as +15000 to win an FCS Championship this season. They’d traded as high as +4500 prior to the William & Mary loss.