2018 Villanova Wildcats football team

The 2018 Villanova Wildcats football team represented Villanova University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Mark Ferrante and played their home games at Villanova Stadium. They were a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. They finished the season 5–6, 2–6 in CAA play to finish in a tie for tenth place.

2018 Villanova Wildcats football
ConferenceColonial Athletic Association
2018 record5–6 (2–6 CAA)
Head coachMark Ferrante (2nd season)
Offensive coordinatorSam Venuto (20th season)
Defensive coordinatorJoe Trainer (2nd season)
Home stadiumVillanova Stadium
(Capacity: 12,500)
2018 CAA football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 4 Maine $^  7 –1     10 –4  
No. 9 James Madison ^  6 –2     9 –4  
No. 16 Stony Brook ^  5 –3     7 –5  
No. 20 Towson ^  5 –3     7 –5  
No. 24 Delaware ^  5 –3     7 –5  
No. 19 Elon ^  4 –3     6 –5  
Rhode Island  4 –4     6 –5  
William & Mary  3 –4     4 –6  
New Hampshire  3 –5     4 –7  
Villanova  2 –6     5 –6  
Richmond  2 –6     4 –7  
Albany  1 –7     3 –8  
  • $ – Conference champion
  • ^ – FCS playoff participant
Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

The Wildcats finished the 2017 season 5–6, 3–5 in CAA play to finish in a three-way tie for seventh place.

Preseason

CAA Poll

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 24, 2018, the Wildcats were predicted to finish in sixth place.[1]

Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1James Madison241 (21)
2New Hampshire206 (2)
3Delaware182
4Stony Brook169
5Elon168 (1)
6Villanova164
7Richmond127
8Maine81
9Albany78
10Towson74
11William & Mary55
12Rhode Island39

Preseason All-CAA Team

The Wildcats had two players selected to the preseason all-CAA team including quarterback Trevor Knight being selected as offensive player of the year.

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 112:00 p.m.at Temple*No. 19
ESPNewsW 19–1732,357
September 812:30 p.m.at Lehigh*No. 12
StadiumW 31–95,104
September 153:30 p.m.TowsonNo. 10
FCS/FSGOL 35–455,719
September 226:00 p.m.Bucknell*No. 15
  • Villanova Stadium
  • Villanova, PA
W 49–79,341
September 296:00 p.m.at No. 18 Stony BrookNo. 13
FCS/FSGOL 27–297,720
October 63:30 p.m.at No. 25 MaineNo. 19
FCSL 10–136,894
October 131:00 p.m.No. 6 James Madison
  • Villanova Stadium
  • Villanova, PA
FCS/FSGOL 0–375,219
October 273:30 p.m.New Hampshire
  • Villanova Stadium
  • Villanova, PA
CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLiveL 0–343,919
November 33:00 p.m.at Richmond
NBCS WAW 45–218,117
November 101:00 p.m.William & Mary
  • Villanova Stadium
  • Villanova, PA
FCS/FSGOL 17–244,105
November 1712:00 p.m.at No. 17 Delaware
NBCS PHIL/SNYW 42–2118,752
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

at Temple
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 19 Wildcats 13 0 0 6 19
Owls 3 7 7 0 17
See also: 2018 Temple Owls football team and Mayor's Cup (Temple-Villanova)
Overall record Last meeting Result
15–16–2 2017 L, 13–16

at Lehigh
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 12 Wildcats 7 13 11 0 31
Mountain Hawks 3 0 0 6 9
See also: 2018 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
9–5 2017 W, 38–35

Towson
1 2 3 4 Total
Tigers 21 14 7 3 45
No. 10 Wildcats 14 7 7 7 35
See also: 2018 Towson Tigers football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
8–6 2017 L, 9–24

Bucknell
1 2 3 4 Total
Bison 0 7 0 0 7
No. 15 Wildcats 28 14 0 7 49
See also: 2018 Bucknell Bison football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
12–11–2 2005 W, 38–10

at Stony Brook
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 13 Wildcats 7 14 0 6 27
No. 18 Seawolves 0 6 17 6 29
See also: 2018 Stony Brook Seawolves football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
1–1 2013 L, 6–35

at Maine
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 19 Wildcats 3 0 7 0 10
No. 25 Black Bears 0 3 7 3 13
See also: 2018 Maine Black Bears football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
12–9 2017 W, 31–0

James Madison
1 2 3 4 Total
No. 6 Dukes 6 10 14 7 37
Wildcats 0 0 0 0 0
See also: 2018 James Madison Dukes football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
11–15 2017 L, 8–30

New Hampshire
1 2 3 4 Total
UNH Wildcats 10 14 7 3 34
Nova Wildcats 0 0 0 0 0
See also: 2018 New Hampshire Wildcats football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
11–12 2013 L, 28–29

at Richmond
1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 7 13 18 7 45
Spiders 0 7 7 7 21
See also: 2018 Maine Black Bears football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
22–13 2017 L, 0–22

William & Mary
1 2 3 4 Total
Tribe 0 14 10 0 24
Wildcats 0 7 0 10 17
See also: 2018 William & Mary Tribe football team
Overall record Last meeting Result
15–16–1 2014 W, 35–31

at Delaware
1 2 3 4 Total
Wildcats 14 7 7 14 42
No. 17 Fightin' Blue Hens 7 0 14 0 21
See also: 2018 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team and Battle of the Blue
Overall record Last meeting Result
28–21–1 2017 W, 28–17

Ranking movements
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Final 
STATS FCS 19 12 10 15 13–T 19 RV NR NR NR NR NR NR  
Coaches 19 11 10 14 14 19 25 RV NR NR NR NR NR

References
  1. Washburn, Rob (July 24, 2018). "James Madison Favored To Win Fourth Straight CAA Football Title in 2018". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  2. "2018 Villanova Football Schedule". Villanova. Archived from the original on 2015-03-19. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
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