# 2019 Villanova Wildcats football team

The 2019 Villanova Wildcats football team represented Villanova University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by third-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 9–4, 5–3 in CAA play to finish in a tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs where they lost in the first round to Southeastern Louisiana.

## Preseason
### CAA poll

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 23, 2019, the Wildcats were predicted to finish in ninth place.
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | James Madison | 238 (20) |
| 2 | Towson | 217 (3) |
| 3 | Maine | 201 (1) |
| 4 | Elon | 164 |
| 5 | Delaware | 162 |
| 6 | Stony Brook | 151 |
| 7 | New Hampshire | 109 |
| 8 | Rhode Island | 104 |
| 9 | Villanova | 84 |
| 10 | Richmond | 62 |
| 11 | William & Mary | 58 |
| 12 | Albany | 34 |

### Preseason All–CAA team

The Wildcats did not have any players selected to the preseason all-CAA team.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| August 24 | 12:00 p.m. | at No. 13 Colgate* | | Crown Field at Andy Kerr StadiumHamilton, NY | CBSSN | W 34–14 | 4,519 |
| September 7 | 6:00 p.m. | Lehigh* | No. 24 | Villanova StadiumVillanova, PA | FloSports | W 38–10 | 8,319 |
| September 14 | 6:00 p.m. | at Bucknell* | No. 22 | Christy Mathewson-Memorial StadiumLewisburg, PA | Stadium | W 45–10 | 3,649 |
| September 21 | 6:00 p.m. | at No. 5 Towson | No. 18 | Johnny Unitas StadiumTowson, MD | FloSports | W 52–45$^{OT}$ | 8,811 |
| September 28 | 3:30 p.m. | No. 12 Maine | No. 8 | Villanova StadiumVillanova, PA | FloSports | W 33–17 | 10,071 |
| October 5 | 3:30 p.m. | at William & Mary | No. 5 | Zable StadiumWilliamsburg, VA | FloSports | W 35–28 | 9,164 |
| October 12 | 1:30 p.m. | at No. 2 James Madison | No. 5 | Bridgeforth StadiumHarrisonburg, VA | FloSports | L 24–38 | 25,076 |
| October 26 | 3:30 p.m. | Stony Brook | No. 5 | Villanova StadiumVillanova, PA | FloSports | L 35–36 | 7,720 |
| November 2 | 1:00 p.m. | at New Hampshire | No. 11 | Wildcat StadiumDurham, NH | FloSports | L 20–28 | 7,895 |
| November 9 | 1:00 p.m. | Richmond | No. 18 | Villanova StadiumVillanova, PA | FloSports | W 35–28 | 4,151 |
| November 15 | 7:00 p.m. | LIU* | No. 13 | Villanova StadiumVillanova, PA | FloSport | W 35–7 | 3,051 |
| November 23 | 1:00 p.m. | Delaware | No. 10 | Villanova StadiumVillanova, PA (Battle of the Blue) | FloSports | W 55–33 | 5,319 |
| November 30 | 3:00 p.m. | at Southeastern Louisiana* | No. 8 | Strawberry StadiumHammond, LA (NCAA Division I First Round) | ESPN3 | L 44–45 | 4,173 |
| *Non-conference gameRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time ||||||||

## Game summaries
### At Colgate

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Wildcats | 0 | 27 | 0 | 7 | 34 |
| No. 13 Raiders | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
Scoring summary :
| Quarter | Time | Drive | Drive | Drive | Team | Scoring information | Score | Score |
| Quarter | Time | Plays | Yards | TOP | Team | Scoring information | NOVA | COLG |
| 2 | 14:20 | 6 | 62 | 1:51 | NOVA | Jalen Jackson 18-yard touchdown reception from Daniel Smith, Drew Kresge kick good | 7 | 0 |
| 2 | 13:16 | | | | NOVA | Interception returned 27 yards for touchdown by Jaquan Amos, Drew Kresge kick good | 14 | 0 |
| 2 | 2:07 | 8 | 91 | 4:26 | NOVA | Changa Hodge 45-yard touchdown reception from Daniel Smith, Drew Kresge kick missed | 20 | 0 |
| 2 | 0:12 | 6 | 61 | 0:43 | NOVA | Andrew Perez 15-yard touchdown reception from Daniel Smith, Drew Kresge kick good | 27 | 0 |
| 3 | 6:27 | 12 | 68 | 5:41 | COLG | Nick Draught 10-yard touchdown reception from Grant Breneman, Chris Puzzi kick good | 27 | 7 |
| 4 | 13:26 | 8 | 77 | 3:05 | COLG | Grant Breneman 1-yard touchdown run, Chris Puzzi kick good | 27 | 14 |
| 4 | 8:41 | 10 | 78 | 4:40 | NOVA | Daniel Smith 9-yard touchdown run, Drew Kresge kick good | 34 | 14 |
| "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | 34 | 14 |

### Lehigh

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Mountain Hawks | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 10 |
| No. 24 Wildcats | 0 | 17 | 14 | 7 | 38 |

### At Bucknell

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 22 Wildcats | 14 | 14 | 14 | 3 | 45 |
| Bison | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 10 |

### At Towson

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Total |
| No. 18 Wildcats | 14 | 7 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 52 |
| No. 5 Tigers | 7 | 21 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 45 |

### Maine

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 12 Black Bears | 0 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 17 |
| No. 8 Wildcats | 16 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 33 |

### At William & Mary

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 5 Wildcats | 14 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 35 |
| Tribe | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 28 |

### At James Madison

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 5 Wildcats | 0 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 24 |
| No. 2 Dukes | 7 | 10 | 0 | 21 | 38 |

### Stony Brook

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Seawolves | 7 | 3 | 10 | 16 | 36 |
| No. 5 Wildcats | 7 | 21 | 0 | 7 | 35 |

### At New Hampshire

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 11 Nova Wildcats | 7 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| UNH Wildcats | 7 | 0 | 14 | 7 | 28 |

### Richmond

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Spiders | 14 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| No. 18 Wildcats | 14 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 35 |

### LIU

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Sharks | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| No. 13 Wildcats | 14 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 35 |

### Delaware

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Fightin' Blue Hens | 7 | 10 | 0 | 16 | 33 |
| No. 10 Wildcats | 20 | 14 | 14 | 7 | 55 |

## FCS Playoffs

The Wildcats were selected for the postseason tournament, with a first-round pairing against Southeastern Louisiana.

### At Southeastern Louisiana–First Round

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 8 Wildcats | 10 | 21 | 0 | 13 | 44 |
| Lions | 7 | 7 | 17 | 14 | 45 |

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Final |
| STATS FCS | RV | 24 | 22 | 18 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 11 | 18 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 15 |
| Coaches | — | RV | 23 | 18 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 19 | 16 | 14 | 10 | 15 |