Lehigh Football Nation

It's a lot less fun to go through the "Players of the Week" and report card after a loss, but it's still got to be done.  Last week's somewhat humbling 31-9 defeat comes at a point of the season where it's more of a learning experience than a death blow to the season, and also came against one of the very best teams in all of FCS. It wouldn't surprise me to see Villanova win the CAA this season. In any event, here we go.

(Photo Credit: Philadelphia Inquirer) It's time to go full nerd and do a full-blown breakdown of the Villanova Wildcats. If there were any lingering doubts about how good No. 12 Villanova is, the Wildcats enter this game on a huge high, upsetting Temple of the AAC 19-17 . This isn't the first time Villanova has faced Lehigh after playing an FBS opponent. In 2016, the Wildcats traveled to Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, facing a Pitt team led by now-Pittsburgh Steeler RB James Conner on the ground.  The Wildcats fought pretty bravely in that game but eventually fell 28-7 to one of the more powerful teams of the ACC that season. In the game against Lehigh the following week, won by Villanova 26-21 , Lehigh was in the game until the very end, jumping to a 14-6 lead at halftime before the Wildcats got over their Pittsburgh hangover. Down 21-20, head coach Andy Talley resorted to dinosaur ball, running almost every play until converting the final touchdown.  The rally, beh...

(Photo Credit: Kyle Craig/Lehigh Valley Live) Head coach Andy Coen would hear nothing of moral victories in the post game press conference. "I thought we had every opportunity to win this football game," Lehigh's frustrated head coach said. "When you go through this stuff," he said, flipping through the pages of the post-game statistics packet, "you're going to see a lot of mistakes.  You see it with some young guys, guys in their first game, but we had some guys that where it was just out of character." It was a game where neither side looked like they were in mid-season form, though you could see the quality shine through offensively on both sides at different times.  So the outcome hinged on mistakes, and who made fewer of them - and that team was Villanova. That shouldn't take away from the offensive fireworks on both sides. There was the tremendous blocking up front that set up a great rushing day for Villanova RB Matt Gudza...

Lehigh fell behind 21-7 and 28-14 in the first half, and battled back in the second half to give themselves a shot to win, but for the second straight year the Mountain Hawks came close but couldn't close the deal, falling 38-35 to Villanova at Murray Goodman Stadium this afternoon. In his first start of the 2017 season, junior QB Brad Mayes went 33 for 49 with 406 yards passing and 4 touchdowns, including two to senior WR Gatlin Casey that were of highlight-reel quality. One was a 29 yard strike through a pass interference call, and the second was a 3 yard drill that was tipped but Casey adjusted and came down with the pass at the back of the end zone. Junior WR Luke Cristiano also had a career day with 8 catches and 143 yards and an amazing touchdown catch that saw him beat Villanova S Rob Rolle and scamper for a 66 yard touchdown. Villanova amassed 475 yards of offense on the afternoon, achieving good balance with QB Zach Bednarczyk 's passing (209 yards, 2 touc...

One of my favorite stories of the early Lehigh football era was the idea that Lehigh, Lafayette and Penn in the late 1800s battled for the "Championship of Pennsylvania". In 2017, it wouldn't be prudent to call a game versus Lehigh and Villanova the "Championship of Pennsylvania", thanks to the presence of Penn State, Pitt and Temple in the state. In FCS though, Lehigh vs. Villanova, the only two STATS and Coach's Poll Top 25 teams that are based in Pennsylvania, it could certainly be spun in that way. Villanova, at No. 9/10, travels to Lehigh, No. 17/17, to determine who is the FCS Champion of Pennsylvania. I like it.

(Photo Credit: Akira Suwa/Philly.com) Writing a season preview about Villanova used to be the easiest job in the world. Just grab your boilerplate biographical information about future hall-of-fame head coach Andy Talley , do a little Googling of the Wildcat's next up-and-coming NFL prospects, come up with a dozen synonyms for the words "tough" and "challenge", and the preview basically writes itself. But this season's task of facing Villanova is simply different than all of those other years.  Talley, the only coach Villanova has ever known since restarting their football program in 1985 after a failed attempt to pull the plug on it in 1981 in the middle of spring practice , has finally retired from the head coaching ranks.  While the same familiar trappings of high preseason rankings and potential NFL prospects remain, their new head coach, longtime Talley assistant Mark Ferrante , is now running the Wildcats and will be seeking his first win as a ...

Thanks to Villanova's game notes and Brian Ewart  and the gang over at VUHoops.com, which is the source of most of this research (and, of course, my years of expertise following Lehigh football.) One last plug of the Q&A Brian did over at VUHoops.com with me , and some other good content from their site. Of note:  VU Hoops: 3 Things To Know About Lehigh "In the pre-season, Lehigh's offense was not only touted as high powered, but was generally considered the biggest strength of the team.  Last week they seemed to be sleep walking early on against the Monmouth.  In the first half, the offense was held to just 49 yards and no points.  Despite a decent showing by their defense, the Hawks went into halftime down 7-0. "However, in the second half, senior QB Nick Shafnisky lead the team to 190 yards and 3 TD's.  It turned out to be too little too late, but they could easily ride that momentum into week 2.  Lehigh is a pass first team with lots ...