The No. 13 Villanova Wildcats traveled to face the Richmond Spiders, but were sent home disappointed after a 23-0 loss. For the first time this season, Villanova was held to under 100 rushing yards against an FCS opponent. The Wildcats combined for 33 rushes for 93 yards in what was an overall lackluster day for the offense. The Villanova defense did the best that they could, allowing only two touchdowns and three field goals from very easy scoring positions. Senior punter John Hinchen punted six times in the contest. Head Coach Andy Talley will certainly look to find out what went wrong with his offense before they face the 4-2 Albany Great Danes. Here is the LWOS breakdown of the Villanova loss.
Breaking Down the Villanova Loss to Richmond
Villanova Passing Offense
The sophomore quarterback left the game with a headache in the second quarter. Zach Bednarczyk will likely be put on concussion protocol this week and will certainly not be put back in the game if he continues to perform like this. Bednarczyk only completed six of his 15 passes for 67 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. Sophomore Adeyemi DaSilva replaced him but was no better. DaSilva only completed six of 14 passes for 62 yards. The passing game has struggled all year, and it is finally catching up to the Wildcats to cause their second loss of the season.
Villanova Rushing Offense
Just like the passing offense, the rushing game vanished today as well. The Wildcats ran for under 100 rushing yards for the first time in FCS play, averaging only 2.8 yards per carry with a 31 yard long. Sophomore Aaron Forbes led the team in rushes with nine and gained 66 yards. Instead of using him more, the Wildcats’ coaching staff decided to give Javon White some carries. White ran six times for 21 yards and lost a fumble that was reversed by replay officials. This is only the second time the Wildcats were stagnant with the rushing game so it should not be a serious issue. However, it will need to be something to fix if the passing offense looks equally as complacent.
Brian Brown
Brian Brown will give the Villanova secondary nightmares for this week after his performance on Saturday. Brown caught seven passes for 120 yards, including a 56 yard touchdown in the first quarter. Brown would have gained more yardage if the game were competitive, and the Spiders needed to continue to air it out all game. This is the second time the Wildcats have allowed a single receiver to break out with seven or more receptions and over 100 yards. The first was Troy Pelletier of Lehigh in week two of the season.
Overall
This was a disappointing match-up for the Wildcats. It was the first time Villanova was an underdog to a FCS team, and they were completely outmatched. The loss will likely drop the Wildcats around 20th in the voting before their homecoming match-up against Albany. The Great Danes currently have the 78th best defense in terms of yards against, allowing 410.8 yards per game.
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