# 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.

## 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.

## Schedule

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

### 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 | 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 | Final |
| STATS FCS | 19 | 12 | 10 | 15 | 13–T | 19 | RV | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Coaches | 19 | 11 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 19 | 25 | RV | — | — | — | — | — | |