Recap | Box Score | Notes

VILLANOVA QUOTES

Head Coach Andy Talley

Opening Statement: Obviously, happy to win the game. I thought Lehigh played great. We knew they would come in and give us their best game, which they did and we preached to the team, what they saw on tape against Monmouth, was not what we would see tonight. We would see a better football team, more prepared and ready to play and they certainly were. They gave us all we wanted and more. I was very impressed with them, they are well coached and they play hard. We have opportunities in the first half. We probably should've put 14 points on the board, but we didn't and the seven penalties were brutal, it really effected what we were trying to do. In the second half, we got after it a lot more in terms of selling to our players that frankly we were a little embarrassing, and I told them that, at a very high voice level, and I never do that with a team, but it's almost anticipated when you come off a 1A game, you have to be up here just to survive and then you come back the next week no matter who you're playing and no matter how much you preach to them, there's a drop off. I don't want to use that as an excuse, but it played into the way we played in the first half. To our credit, the second half we stuck to the ground game, Zach did a great job running the ball, our two running backs rushed for over 200 yards and our offensive line moved people off the ball, our defense came up with some plays when they had to and I'm really happy to win this game. It's one of those games where we had to hang on and I told them at halftime that were going to be in a lot of CAA games, just like that at halftime. You have to have the ability to fight back, and I liked seeing that because I don't know that about this team yet or I didn't know that about this team because we played PITT and didn't really have that opportunity to really fight our way out, just because they were very good. So I'm very happy with the win and pleased we fight to live another day.

On 250 victories: You know what, I didn't even know it actually. They gave me the game ball after the game. It's a nice round figure and it kind of goes along with my last year here to be able to be in that with the era that's with the guys with 250 wins. I've really been blessed to stay at this school long enough with an administration and a group of athletes over time that could help you accumulate 250 victories. The head coach technically gets all the accolades, but it's really a group of people that make that right.

Running Back Javon White

On his though process before the fourth down play: The only thing I'm really thinking about right there, is finish. I know I have my teammates backing me, so I had no doubt.

On the talk at halftime: The main idea ahead of time was just to come together as a collective team and focus on the main goal of winning. We knew we could do it, it was only a matter of time. After halftime, we buckled down and got right to business.

Quarterback Zach Bednarczyk

On the play call on fourth down: It was a straight hand off. We knew he'd be able to get it, we run it all the time in practice and the running backs were running great tonight so there was no doubt in our minds that they were going to get the touchdown.

On the timeout and if they changed the play: Yeah we changed the play actually. It was going to be a quarterback run but then we went to give the ball to Javon since he's been running great all game.

Linebacker Austin Calitro

On the defense throughout the second half and how they stopped Lehigh on the last series: Yeah we just found the holes in our coverage. We just had some weak spots in our coverage, but we buckled down, and knew what they were doing ahead of time.

LEHIGH QUOTES

Head Coach Andy Coen

Opening Statement: Well, we entered this game as a team with one goal in mind, and that was to become a better football team this week than we were a week ago. I think my guys really took to that message and they really did perform here against a very good opponent and I was pleased with that. I thought we were outstanding in the first half. I thought that we were controlling the line of scrimmage. I thought our defense was doing a real nice job against an explosive offense. In the second half, well I think Nova helped us with some penalties in the first half that kind of kept some drives alive for us. But I think we really kind of turned the tide a little bit coming out of the second half. They had back-to-back scoring drives, but again, our guys fought and did a nice job and got us back in the game. The missed field goal, I think took a little bit of momentum, because it would have given us the lead back then at that point in time. But again, we were able to rally off of that. Then we got the stop on the second two-point play. We kept them out of the end zone there. So, we had some momentum going into that last drive. I thought our kids executed the two-minute drive very, very well. It's something that we practice quite often. Our guys our dialed in with that and I thought that they performed that very well. It's a game of inches. I told these two guys walking across the field here (Colton Caslow, Troy Pelletier) that it really is a game of inches. You know, we were this close to beating a very good football team. There's a lot that we can do to keep on getting better as part of the process week-to-week. But I'm proud of how our guys came out and competed, and I thought that they did a real fine job.

On what the team was able to accomplish this week: Well, I think the kids have done a nice job. I think my staff has done a great job preparing. It's a process each week to get better every day. We got better this week than we did a week ago. It's a top-25 nationally ranked team here. That's where we want this program to be. In order for us to do that, we need to not only schedule these guys and play these guys, we need to beat these guys. I think that's probably -- myself and these guys sitting next to me -- what really bothers us more than anything is that we had a chance and a real good chance to beat this team and we didn't finish that job. I'm not taking anything away from Villanova. There's always two teams on the field, and I always credit the opponent as well. But, we had our chances, good chances, and we didn't finish the job. So, we continue our process. We go into Week 3, and we need to start finishing things.

On Special Teams: I thought special teams did a nice job. I thought Ed (Mish) did a great job kicking. He's doing all of our kicking. I think Ed improved from a week ago. He hit that field goal, and I thought it was right down the middle. He hit the heck out of it. I think if we would have made the kick there, it might have kept some of the momentum going for us. We would have been up 17-6. Ed's getting better. I think our coverage units did a nice job. We look at it that Special Teams is every bit as important as Offense and Defense. So, we constantly have a process each week for those guys. The one thing I was happy with is that we did not turn the ball over. We had one high snap and that hurt us in that last drive. Nate had to scramble around for the ball, and he should have just thrown it out-of-bounds. But I don't think at the end it really mattered as the way the game shook out. We were able to get down there, and we had the opportunities to score down there.

Linebacker Colton Caslow

On what it's like to be back out there and making place: It's definitely great to be back after missing Week 1. None of the plays I made would have been possible if I didn't have the fantastic 10 guys around me out there. Everyone has just been flying to the ball, and I finally get to experience it first hand with my defense like how we've changed from last season. It was really great to be back.

On if the defense has a different energy: Definitely. Everyone, like I said, is just flying around, and we are getting all 11 players to the ball. I feel like everyone has a higher energy out there. We are in a lot better shape than what we were last year, and it's been a difference maker.

Wide Receiver Troy Pelletier

On what his focus was for this game: We knew what kind of game we were getting into. We have a lot of respect for their defense. We knew we were going to have to compete at a high level. We had a lot of one-on-one matchups, and we just wanted to take advantage of them. I got the ball a good amount of times, and came up a little bit short making a play at the end. Like I said, we came up a little short.

On the last Lehigh offensive play: We talk about process all the time. First and second down we want to get positive yards, and I think it came down to 4^th and 10. I had a crossing route. I had a little bit of space, and I had to make a play to get the first down and I came up a little bit short.