PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Villanova University football team will play its pandemic-delayed season home-opener on Saturday when the Wildcats welcome Rhode Island to the Main Line.
Villanova kicked off the campaign this past weekend with a 16-13 road win at Stony Brook.
"It felt great," said Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante. "Our players were super excited, a lot of energy. Little anxiety, I think — you know, it's a different time of year and it's been 15 months since we played, but they were excited to be out there. I thought we played pretty well, all in all."
Villanova had a standout performance from sophomore wide receiver Rayjoun Pringle. He finished the game with nine catches for 171 yards, including a 49-yard touchdown reception.
"I'm not going to say he exceeded our expectations because when he was here as a freshman he was showing some nice things, and then through our limited practices we had in the fall he was really doing some nice things and he was opening a lot of people's eyes," Ferrante said of Pringle.
"We were hoping what we were seeing on the practice field with him was going to be able to translate into a game, and to his credit, it translated into the game. He had a really phenomenal day."
For the second straight week, the Wildcats will face a team that has yet to play a game this spring. Rhode Island's non-league game was canceled at the end of February, and the team had a bye week last week.
On the surface, it would appear to be the same situation, with regards to prepping for an opponent, as Villanova did last week, but Ferrante said this week is a little more challenging.
"Meaning this: At least we played Stony Brook in 2019 and 2018," he said. "We haven't played Rhode Island since 2017. Even though we're watching their film, we don't have a great idea of their personnel because we haven't faced them in so long. And they have all new coordinators. They have a new offensive coordinator and a new defensive coordinator."
Saturday's game at Villanova Stadium will start at 1 p.m.
