Kern: Villanova opens CAA season with Towson

VILLANOVA finished 6-5 last season, despite losing Walter Payton Award-winning quarterback John Robertson early and most of their running backs by November. If the Wildcats had gone 7-4, they probably would have made the NCAA playoffs.

The wounds were mostly self-inflected.

The Wildcats had a fumble returned for a length-of-the-field touchdown against them in an 11-point September home loss to Penn. They gave up three non-offensive touchdowns in a season-ending, nine-point loss at James Madison, when they still had a chance to earn a share of the Colonial Athletic Association title. And there was a 28-21, late-October loss at Towson in which then-redshirt freshman Zach Bednarczyk threw two interceptions that came back all the way, including an 86-yarder with just under five minutes to go when the Wildcats were threatening to tie the game.

That's a bunch of scars.

On Saturday afternoon the Wildcats, who beat Lehigh at home last week by five, will host Towson (also 1-1) in a CAA opener. Their three games after this are against Lafayette, Elon and Rhode Island, all teams they figure to be favored over, before they have to go to preseason favorite Richmond, which is ranked second in FCS.

Which means . . .

"It's interesting that the third game of the year could put you in a position like this," said coach Andy Talley, who's in his 32nd and final season. "It's a must-win, if you want to get ready to get going in the CAA. As we move down the line, the heavier part of our schedule, at least on paper, is in the second half. If we could somehow carve out a win, I think it would be a tremendous lead-in for us. So there's a lot of hype around it. We'll get a good idea of what we're going to be this year."

The Tigers have taken three of the last five meetings, though Villanova did win by 28 on the Main Line two years ago.

Bednarczyk doesn't think the Wildcats are using what happened last season as any added fuel. But neither have they forgotten. Especially him.

"There's probably a little bit of that, but no one's going around the locker room saying we have to get revenge on these guys," he explained. "We knew we had a good shot at winning the game last year if we just eliminated some mistakes. If we don't beat ourselves, we believe we're good enough to beat anyone.

"We're watching film on them from this year. But I also watched the game from last year. It was real frustrating to see some of the bad decisions I made. I wouldn't throw those balls blindly. But looking back on that, it was good for me to see (again). Even with those mistakes, we almost won the game. I learned from it. It made me a better player. You just don't want the lessons to be so severe. In the long run, it helps. But in the moment, it was horrible."

That game was only his fourth start. He completed 58 percent of his passes for 1,396 yards, with 10 TDs and seven picks. He was also the team's top rusher, with 515 yards and five scores on 106 carries. It was enough to get him the CAA co-Offensive Rookie of the Year.

This season he's thrown for only 175 yards and no TDs, but the opener was at FBS Pitt. Last week, the team ran for almost 400, while throwing only three times in the second half.

"That's probably not going to happen every Saturday," Talley said. "The protection up front has to improve a little bit so Zach (who's rushed for 94 on 26 attempts) doesn't have to pull it down and take off as much. And we're a little light in the receiving corps. We're still trying to develop some guys there. There's not a go-to guy he feels totally comfortable with yet."

Of course, it's only mid-September, even though conventional wisdom would suggest it's not really too early.

Not if you want to get back to the postseason.

"That's why in the offseason the coaches were preaching how every single play has a huge impact," Bednarczyk said. "We were, like, three plays away from winning this game last year. Same with JMU. But we didn't. We played good football for, like, 97 percent of the game and it didn't matter, because the other 3 percent killed us. That's how fragile this stuff is. Once you've seen that side of it you, never want to go through it anymore."

Towson at Villanova

Saturday, 3:30 Villanova Stadium

TV: Comcast SportsNet. Radio: 610 Sports (WTEL-AM).

Records: Both teams 1-1. This is the CAA opener for each.

History: Villanova leads, 7-5.

About Towson: Tigers beat St. Francis at home, 35-28, by scoring the final 25 points, 22 of them in the second half...They opened with a 56-20 loss at FBS South Florida...QB Morgan Mahalak, a transfer from Oregon, was injured and replaced by redshirt sophomore Ellis Knudson, who threw for 301 yards on only 10 completions vs. St. Francis.

About Villanova: Wildcats got Andy Talley his 250th career victory, 26-21, over visiting Lehigh, after trailing, 14-6, at halftime...They ran for almost 400 yards and threw only three passes in the second half...Javon White had a career-best 155 yards on 23 carries, which tied a career high...Two different kickers missed extra points. Former walk-on Gerard Smith, who was pulled for Steve Weyler after also missing a field goal, will once again be the first guy used...Walk-on soph LB Ben Evans has a brother, Sam, who's a senior starting offensive guard for Towson.

@mikekerndn