2018 Villanova Wildcats football team

American college football season

2018 Villanova Wildcats football

Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
Record	5–6 (2–6 CAA)
Head coach	Mark Ferrante (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Sam Venuto (20th season)
Defensive coordinator	Joe Trainer (2nd season)
Home stadium	Villanova Stadium
Seasons ← 2017 2019 →

2018 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
v t e
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

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.

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)
1	James Madison	241 (21)
2	New Hampshire	206 (2)
3	Delaware	182
4	Stony Brook	169
5	Elon	168 (1)
6	Villanova	164
7	Richmond	127
8	Maine	81
9	Albany	78
10	Towson	74
11	William & Mary	55
12	Rhode Island	39

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.

Offense

Ethan Greenidge – OL

Defense

Rob Rolle – S

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	12:00 p.m.	at Temple*	No. 19	Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA (Mayor's Cup)	ESPNews	W 19–17	32,357
September 8	12:30 p.m.	at Lehigh*	No. 12	Goodman Stadium Bethlehem, PA	Stadium	W 31–9	5,104
September 15	3:30 p.m.	Towson	No. 10	Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA	FCS/FSGO	L 35–45	5,719
September 22	6:00 p.m.	Bucknell*	No. 15	Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA		W 49–7	9,341
September 29	6:00 p.m.	at No. 18 Stony Brook	No. 13	Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium Stony Brook, NY	FCS/FSGO	L 27–29	7,720
October 6	3:30 p.m.	at No. 25 Maine	No. 19	Alfond Stadium Orono, ME	FCS	L 10–13	6,894
October 13	1:00 p.m.	No. 6 James Madison		Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA	FCS/FSGO	L 0–37	5,219
October 27	3:30 p.m.	New Hampshire		Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA	CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLive	L 0–34	3,919
November 3	3:00 p.m.	at Richmond		E. Claiborne Robins Stadium Richmond, VA	NBCS WA	W 45–21	8,117
November 10	1:00 p.m.	William & Mary		Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA	FCS/FSGO	L 17–24	4,105
November 17	12:00 p.m.	at No. 17 Delaware		Delaware Stadium Newark, DE (Battle of the Blue)	NBCS PHIL/SNY	W 42–21	18,752
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[2]

Game summaries

At Temple

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 19 Wildcats	13	0	0	6	19
Owls	3	7	7	0	17

At Lehigh

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 12 Wildcats	7	13	11	0	31
Mountain Hawks	3	0	0	6	9

Towson

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tigers	21	14	7	3	45
No. 10 Wildcats	14	7	7	7	35

Bucknell

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bison	0	7	0	0	7
No. 15 Wildcats	28	14	0	7	49

At Stony Brook

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 13 Wildcats	7	14	0	6	27
No. 18 Seawolves	0	6	17	6	29

At Maine

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 19 Wildcats	3	0	7	0	10
No. 25 Black Bears	0	3	7	3	13

James Madison

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Dukes	6	10	14	7	37
Wildcats	0	0	0	0	0

New Hampshire

	1	2	3	4	Total
UNH Wildcats	10	14	7	3	34
Nova Wildcats	0	0	0	0	0

At Richmond

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	7	13	18	7	45
Spiders	0	7	7	7	21

William & Mary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tribe	0	14	10	0	24
Wildcats	0	7	0	10	17

At Delaware

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	14	7	7	14	42
No. 17 Fightin' Blue Hens	7	0	14	0	21

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes т = Tied with team above or below
	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	—	—	—	—	—	—
Coaches	19	11	10	14	14	19	25	RV	—	—	—	—	—

References

^ Washburn, Rob (July 24, 2018). "James Madison Favored To Win Fourth Straight CAA Football Title in 2018". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
^ "2018 Villanova Football Schedule". Villanova. Archived from the original on March 19, 2015. Retrieved May 9, 2018.

v t e Villanova Wildcats football
Venues	Shibe Park (1925–1926, 1936–1949, 1951, 1953) Villanova Stadium (1927–present) Philadelphia Municipal Stadium (1930, 1953–1957) Franklin Field (1948–1950, 1952–1953) Subaru Park (alternate; 2011–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Delaware: Battle of the Blue Temple: Mayor's Cup
Culture & lore	Will D. Cat "V for Villanova"
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold