Cats hang tough, miscues seal fate in 16-13 loss

Patrick Zeng & Luke Lynch

CSN Philly

Coach Ferrante preached passion, toughness and grit in his post game press conference following the Wildcats 16-13 loss to Temple. He said he was proud of his team, but is not a believer in moral victories. While he is right that in the end this game will end up in the loss column for the 2017 Villanova squad, on a different day this could have ended in victory.

The Wildcats entered the game as a sixteen point underdog against FBS foe Temple. Combine that with the predominant sea of Owl supporters flocked throughout Lincoln Financial Field(though Nova Nation was also present) and it adds up to everyone knowing this was going to be a tough one for the Cats. Temple needed to try and build momentum after a 10 win season that saw the Owls grab their first ever major conference title. And they surely needed to do so after the drubbing they were handed at the hands of Notre Dame last week. But as the final whistle blew, you couldn't help but conclude that this game did not accomplish that.

Zach Bednarczyk finished the game with a career high total of 382 yards as well as one touchdown. The junior seemed poised and composed in the pocket even after taking multiple hard hits from a very fast and strong defense. Zach continued to show his growth with frozen ropes spread around to his receivers as well as some gorgeous touch passes. The passing game was mostly fueled by the trio of Changa Hodge, Taurus Phillips and Ryan Bell all of whom have proved to be solid weapons for Bednarczyk.

Syracuse

Hodge put up a career high in receiving with 100 yards on four receptions. Phillips wasn't far behind with 6 receptions for 94 yards. Taurus has often displayed his big play ability for the first two weeks of the season with 15.7 yards per catch this game following his 75 yard Touchdown catch last week. And wow has Ryan Bell been impressive to start the year. The tight end put in another solid performance with 6 catches for 88 yards, most of which were done in heavy traffic in crucial moments of the game. The big man also had his bell rung on a few occasions, but even that was not enough to slow him down.

Unlike the Lehigh game, the Cats were not able to establish any semblance of a run game. Ferrante's offense definitely tried to get the run going, but the Temple front seven would not waiver on the sunny Saturday afternoon in the Linc. Matt Gudzak heavily featured early in the game, but was only able to rack up 17 yards on 11 carries. Aaron Forbes also had no such luck with 15 yards on 5 carries. The inability to run the ball really hurt the Wildcats as Temple never really had to respect Nova's play action playcalls.

The defense stood strong, especially in the second half. The Cats were only able to finish the day with one sack, but they also had 7 tackles for losses. On multiple occasions, the defense was able to come up big, none bigger than when Jeff Steeb knocked down a pass on 3rd and long with 8:19 remaining which gave the Cats the ball for the drive they would use to tie up the game. Temple quarterback Logan Marchi made some very impressive throws and was able to throw for 274 yards, however two missed throws from Marchi also loomed large as they could have put Villanova away.

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In the end it was the miscues that cost the Cats the game. Key drops from Hodge and Forbes derailed what looked like promising Nova drives. A dropped surprise onside kick in the 3rd quarter also proved to be incredibly costly after Nova had gotten on the board with a 44 yard field goal from Drew Kresge. On the drive that Temple took the lead, the Villanova defense self inflicted two bone-crushing penalties on themselves. A pass interference call down the right sideline was followed by a defensive holding call a few plays later which allowed the Owls to move into position to hit the game winning 49 yard field goal. And finally as Nova was scrambling to try and get into field goal range in the final minute of the game, Matt Gudzak fumbled in Temple territory with 9 seconds on the clock to seal the fate of the Cats.

Villanova showed a lot of promise against a very tough opponent. The offense, especially the passing game seems to really be coming along. Bednarczyk impressively orchestrated an 8 play 91 yard drive in the fourth to bring the Cats within 3, and that's something that you might not have seen from the quarterback last season given the circumstances. The defense also made up for a sub par job last week with a stout and gritty performance. Yes it's a loss, but it's one that the Cats can at least feel good about.

Next up for Villanova is Lafayette. The Leopards have started the season 0-2 after losses to Monmouth and yesterday's home loss to Sacred Heart. The Cats will look to build on the momentum they've created these first two weeks in their home opener during parents weekend at 6pm on Saturday.

Final Ruling: A frustrating way to lose, but on another day these Cats would have been king.