THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
The home opener has all the ingredients for a Villanova letdown.
The third-ranked Wildcats (1-0) are coming off Thursday's last-second 27-24 victory over Temple in the inaugural Mayor's Cup game. And on Sept. 19, they face Penn, another Philadelphia rival.
In between, Villanova will host Lehigh this Saturday at Villanova Stadium.
The Mountain Hawks have struggled through five-win campaigns the last two seasons. And Lehigh lost its opener, 28-21, to Central Connecticut State.
Will the Wildcats look past the Mountain Hawks? Villanova coach Andy Talley doesn't think so.
"The only thing that you can do is look at history," Talley said Monday. Three years ago, "we watched Lehigh lose to Albany" in a season opener.
Back then, the Mountain Hawks looked pitiful, fumbling six times. Most people expected Villanova to beat Lehigh easily the next week.
"They came into our game and looked great," Talley said, recalling the 31-28 loss.
That's why he expects his team to be raring to go Saturday. The Wildcats don't want to relive 2006.
Lehigh's offense was flat in the opening loss. Junior quarterback J.B. Clark was 7 of 29 for 122 yards and two touchdowns, but threw three interceptions. The Mountain Hawks were held to 60 rushing yards.
Talley doesn't expect consecutive lackluster performances from Lehigh, though.
"Their quarterback is very good," the coach said of Clark, who threw for 2,350 yards and 23 touchdowns last season. "He came on very strong last year. . . . So he is the guy we have to contain."
Players of the week. The Colonial Athletic Association honored two Wildcats for their efforts in the victory over Temple.
Wideout Brandyn Harvey, a fifth-year senior, was named the offensive player of the week. Kicker Nick Yako, a redshirt freshman, was chosen as special-teams player of the week.
Harvey had career highs of nine catches and 142 receiving yards. He caught a tying touchdown pass with 1 minutes, 24 seconds to play.
Yako was 2 for 2 on field goals and 3 for 3 on extra points. He won the game with a 32-yard field goal as time expired at Lincoln Financial Field.
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