To get you in the mood for Villanova’s 1st big football game of the season tomorrow, here are the highlights of Villanova’s victory over Northeastern last weekend. Remember, tomorrow’s game vs. William & Mary is being nationally broadcast on VERSUS! And if you’re at the game, make sure you’re loud!
Thanks to NovaAthletics for the video.
Game recap and box score for those who couldn’t see the game.
Ball had a big day despite being slowed by injury.
In their conference opener for the season, Villanova (4-0, 1-0) made short work of visiting Northeastern (0-4, 0-2) as they trounced the Huskies 56-7 behind one of the best rushing attacks in school history. Villanova amassed 410 yards on the ground and 6 different Wildcats scored touchdowns. The 410 yards they gained on the ground was the most since 1991, and the 3rd highest total in school history.
RB Aaron Ball had a magnificent day as he totaled over 100 yards on the ground and was resting an injury on the sideline after getting some work in. (WR Brandyn Harvey had 102 yards receiving to create a 100-100 tandem). Ball got things started with a 31-yard TD run on the 3rd play of the game.
All week the main story concerning ‘Nova was the dilemma at QB after Chris Whitney was replaced in favor of Antwon Young. In our pregame report we called for the use of both QB’s, and when given the chance, neither disappointed. Whitney ran for 98 yards and passed for 84 along with a touchdown while Young passed for 58 and ran for 35 while accumulating a touchdown both ways. It looks like the platoon system worked wonders, at least for one week.
The defense has been spectacular to open the season and once again, led by John Dempsey’s team-leading 7 tackles, they did not disappoint holding Northeastern to just 7 points and 239 yards of offense. The defense picked off the Huskies 3 times on the afternoon.
Most of all though, Villanova needed a game like this to open the conference slate. The next 3 weeks bring games against Top-10 teams (the CAA is just brutal this year) and they’ll need all the rest they can get as their season unofficially begins next week against William & Mary.
The Game: #2 Villanova (3-0, 0-0) vs. Northeastern (0-3, 0-1)
Location: Villanova Stadium in Villnova, PA
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Broadcast: The Comcast Network
Brief Rundown: Villanova is coming a a hard fought, but sloppily played 14-3 win over Penn last weekend. The Wildcat defense was superb again, sacking the Penn QB multiple times and forcing a couple of turnovers. There wasn’t much offense for ‘Nova, and QB Chris Whitney was replaced in the 3rd quarter by Antwon Young, who led the team to it’s only offensive touchdown of the night. Whitney will start, but Young will most likely see extended action this week.
Northeastern has started off the season 0-3, with their only competitive game being a 17-7 loss to Maine at home. They are averaging just 9.3 points per game while allowing over 36 per game, and their offensive averages in both rushing and passing are under 130 yards per outing.
Last year Villanova won the meeting 20-14. On paper, this should be a nice tune-up into the CAA season for Villanova, but as we saw last week, never overestimate an opponent.
Injury Report:
3 Keys to Victory:
Links:
