2018 Villanova Wildcats football team

2018 Villanova Wildcats football
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
2018 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 (Capacity: 12,500)
Seasons

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 FCS 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.

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.

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		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

• Source:

Game summaries

at Temple

	1	2	3	4	OT
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	OT
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	OT
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	OT
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	OT
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	OT
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	OT
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	OT
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	OT
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	OT
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	OT
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. ( ) = 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	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Coaches	19	11	10	14	14	19	25	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR