PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Villanova University football team will welcome rival Delaware to the Main Line on Saturday for the regular season finale for both teams.
This game will be critical for both squads, beyond bragging rights, as the Wildcats (2-1) and the Blue Hens (4-0) are both very much alive for a berth in the FCS playoffs.
Villanova is coming off a bye week that came to be when their scheduled game with Albany last weekend was cancelled after Albany opted out of the rest of the season. This was the second game cancelled for the Wildcats this spring. A game with New Hampshire on March 27 was called off because of COVID-19 issues within that team's program. Throw in a regularly scheduled bye week in March, and Villanova has played only one game in the last month.
“It’s been interesting,” Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante told KYW Newsradio. “I’m just proud of the fact that our team, our staff, our support staff — meaning trainers, strength coaches, doctors, everybody on campus — this is only going to be our fourth game, but it’s not because of us. So I’m really proud of how our team has approached everything this spring. We haven’t had any pauses or any shutdowns and we’ve been fortunate enough to be ready to play when the games are scheduled to be played.”
The one game the Wildcats have played over the last month was an impressive 44-17 victory over Maine back on April 3. In that game, the Wildcats led at one point 35-3 and rolled up 428 yards of total offense.
“I think the Maine game shows us kind of hitting our stride, if you will,” Ferrante said.
Delaware is coming off a 34-14 win over Delaware State last week. In compiling their 4-0 record, the Blue Hens have outscored their opponents this season, 127-38.
“They have a lot of guys returning,” Ferrante said of Delaware. "So they have some nice experienced players, they have a lot of depth. They’ve been very opportunistic on both sides of the ball, meaning they’ve gotten a lot of turnovers on defense which has allowed their offense to have really good field position.”
These two teams last met on November 23, 2019, with Villanova picking up a 55-33 victory.
Saturday’s game at Villanova Stadium is set for a 1 p.m. kickoff.