1. Well, where do we start? The game, overall, was as interesting as can be. Villanova appeared to be the better team for most of the game, but then came the fourth quarter. What did you notice differently in Nova's gameplan in the fourth quarter?
I thought we got tight. We stopped trying to move the ball downfield and ran a lot of East-West games. It truly felt like we were trying not to lose instead of going for the kill, which is frankly very surprising to see because all last year we were great at putting the nail in the coffin when we could.
Credit to Temple though, they owned the 4th quarter and made some big, big plays when they had to.
2. When Villanova ended up leading 24-22 with 1:51 left in the game, and knowing that Temple had no timeouts at the time, did you expect the Owls to be able to drive down AND convert on the last second field goal?
I don't think I expected it, but 1:51 is soooooo much time, even with no timeouts. It allows you to dink and dunk down the field 10 yards at a time instead of having to go vertical right away. I was thinking that if we couldn't stop you in the first 4-5 plays, we were in trouble. And we were.
3. How would you rate the performance of Villanova quarterback Chris Whitney and Matt Szczur against Temple?
I thought Whitney was very efficient until late in the game, and then he kind of fell apart, which was shocking to watch. Part (really, most) of the late-game disaster was the coaching, but the players did not execute.
Szczur looked a little rusty to me. Temple was all over him in the running game and did a great job covering him as well in the passing game. Whitney missed him when he was wide open a couple of times, and at least one he was probably taking to the house, so there were some opportunities that were not taken.
4. Was there any particular player from Temple that surprised you during the course of the game?
I think overall Chester Stewart played a lot better than I thought he would. The numbers were mind-boggling but he made plays when he had to, and in situations where I thought he was going to melt. All that inexperience talk from the media before the game may have been overblown a bit.
Bernard Pierce surprised me in a bad way. Matt Brown looked much better than him and Pierce just looked a step slow. I know we make fun of it, but I have no clue how anyone thought he would be in The Heisman discussion at any point this year.
5. In my opinon (and many others). Villanova looks like they could easily be back in the hunt for another championship run this season. What are your thoughts about the team after seeing them in their first live game action of the season?
The defense, which was my main concern before the year, still looks pretty good. I think they'll eat most FCS offenses up week-in and week-out. We need to figure out how to get Szczur the ball in more innovative ways because everyone is going to be keying on him.
And it'd be nice if our coaches made competent decisions down the stretch. Ya know, like just run the clock out when the other team has no timeouts instead of trying to air it out.
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We thank Mr. Lane for his help throughout the week, and we wish Villanova the bets of luck in their effort to defend their championship.
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