Villanova Wildcats: JMUSB 2011 CAA Football Preview #2

Full Disclosure: I’m married to a Vanillanova alum and I occassionally, ok most all of the time, cheer for them a in basketball.  But my distaste for a good portion of their fans’ distaste for big-time college athletics and hindsighted, myopic visions of the good ole’ days of a Catholic Big East being relevant combined with the monster rising in the Shenandoah Valley are going to make it very easy, very fast, to spit the same venom I muster for all other things Philly sports.

What They Lose?  An absolute ton.  No other team in the conference will lose the type of leadership, playmaking, and raw talent that the Wildcats will.  CAA killer Matt Sczcuzzczuuzur has moved onto the Cubs minor league system.  Ben Ijalana was a high NFL Draft pick.  Leading tackler Terence Thomas is gone (and hopefully his biased pops can hang up the laptop for the 1-AA coverage).  QB and team leader Chris Whitney will need to be replaced and backfield mate Aaron Ball’s hardnosed running will be sorely missed.

What They Have? Arguably the CAA’s best coach, a budding superstar wideout, talent in the front four defensively, and an avalanche of question marks on and off the field.  Andy Talley is a fabulous coach who has quietly gone about the business of teaching Rutgers and Temple how to actually recruit their New Jersey backyard despite a dearth of fan support, a prep-school facility,  a universe-sized shadow cast by men’s hoops on the Main Line, and a seemingly grossly incompetent administration.  But he’s going to need to pull his most incredible trick yet to hold this ship together after losing so many key team leaders and presumably being asked the only question that matters (FBS?!) over and over while knowing he doesn’t actually have the answer (or really have much control of the answer).

WR Norman White really began to blossom in his junior year last year and if the ‘Cats can find someone to throw it his way, he may prove to be the CAA’s best target.  Coach Talley has proven he’s not wedded to a system offensively and if White is the best, or only, weapon they have he’ll get a boatload of opportunities.

Prediction  Regresssion tempered by exceptional coaching and a manageable schedule.  With the CAA’s new unbalanced look, ‘Nova avoids Rhode Island.  In years past, this might been something to lament, but the Rams may be the conference’s surprise team this year.  After opening in their very winnable FBS rivalry game with Temple, the Wildcats get Monmouth, Towson, and Penn to chalk up easy W’s and have a late-season bye before their tradition-rich game with Delaware to finish the season.  While they do have to travel to the ‘Burg, it’s the weakassed parent’s weekend crowd (though that could be the only full house of the year).  Probably won’t know where they stand until the last snap of the Delaware game.

The Multi-Million Dollar Question: What the hell are they going to do regarding the Big East?  We’ve covered this ad nauseum, but their indecisiveness on the BE’s invitation to join as a football member has now cost them the opportunity, at least for the time being.  West Virginia and Pitt basically said “this is bullshit, we’re not letting our athletic programs, with the GDP of a small country, be held hostage by a few cockless administrators, a handful of collars concerned with ‘the integrity of the university’ (i.e. we might have more thugs on campus), and a bunch of wealthy wives from Bryn Marw who don’t want their Saturday croquet matches interrupted by tailgates.  My thinking is screw Nova and let their basketball program rot as a result (you think Florida/Arizona/etc. won’t throw silly money Jay Wright’s way when they realize Nova can’t match them without BCS cash?!).  Let’s turn out the purple and gold army at FedEx next year (after a deep playoff run helps to fill New Bridgeforth this year) and show West Virginia who they really want to cherry pick from the CAA!