Villanova Football’s Playoff Path: ‘Cats Hold Steady, Lehigh Survives Scare

Villanova Football held steady in the Patriot League standings after their Saturday, Oct. 31 win over Lafayette. The Wildcats (5-4, 4-2 Patriot League) dismantled Lafayette 44-21, maintaining fourth place as each of the teams ahead of them also won. Lehigh (7-2, 5-1 Patriot League) eked out a 31-30 win over Bucknell, continuing to struggle under backup quarterback Derek Morgan, while Richmond (6-3, 4-2 Patriot League) and Colgate (5-4, 4-2 Patriot League) dominated Holy Cross and William & Mary, respectively.

Next week will give the Wildcats a chance to jump up to No. 3 without needing outside help; they’ll host Richmond, and a head-to-head win would push them past the Spiders in the standings. Lehigh will host Colgate, and it would benefit Villanova and their fans for the Mountain Hawks to win: when the Wildcats played these teams head-to-head, Lehigh lost and the Bears won, so they’ll need Colgate to lose an extra game in order to pass them up.

Lehigh will then travel to face Richmond on Saturday, Nov. 14, and a Spiders win would boost Villanova past the Mountain Hawks. For a team that looked dead in the water at 2-4 at the start of October, the Wildcats are right at the top of the pack in the Patriot League. Any further losses will put them in a major hole because they’d need the rest of the teams around them to drop another game, but a conference title — their only path to an FCS playoff spot with an at-large bid likely off the table — is well within reach with three games to play.