"If they step up, and us older guys can help them out along the road, we can have something special on defense. We can take care of our business, and we know those guys on the other side of the ball will take care of theirs."
Having a mediocre defense can be deadly in the Atlantic Ten Football Conference, which saw nine of its 11 teams average more than 24 points per game last year. Five averaged 28 or more.
The Wildcats scored 35 points per game but gave up 31.8, allowing more than 40 points in a game four times. They were last in the A-10 in four defensive categories, yielding the most rushing, passing and total yards along with the most points.
Even with Villanova's explosive offense, the coaches, and the players, too, would like to see fewer shoot-outs this season. And they seem confident that they will.
"I think everybody will see a big difference between the defense that we had last year and the defense this year," said running back Brian Westbrook, a prime candidate for the Walter Payton Award as the nation's best player in Division I-AA. "We're excited about the team, but more excited about the defense. They have experience under their belt. We expect a lot of good things from those guys on that side of the ball."
Head coach Andy Talley said the defense's problems in recent seasons stemmed in part from having three defensive coordinators in five years.
This year, under second-year coordinator Joe Trainer, the Villanova defense plans to be more aggressive than in the past.
"We're going to try to dictate a little more to the [opponents'] offense," Talley said. "We'll probably be coming after people more than we did last year. We'll try to put more pressure on the offense on early downs. We're going to try to settle down our coverages a little bit."
