Villanova football team to face foe looking for revenge

At 1-5 overall and 0-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association, the Villanova football team is finding out what it's like to be at the bottom instead of among the contenders for the league championship.

The Wildcats, who won the Football Championship Subdivision title in 2009 before reaching the national semifinals last season, are headed to Harrisburg, Va., on Saturday for a game against a James Madison squad that's lying in wait.

Though the Dukes have won five of the last eight meetings between the teams, 'Nova has won the last two. When the Wildcats took the national championship in 2009, they registered a 27-0 victory at JMU during the regular season.

"They're struggling, I guess, but they've had their way with us around here, and we're anxious to play them," said JMU coach Mickey Matthews. "But they've dominated us so bad, we're not taking them lightly."

JMU, No. 13 in the FCS rankings, is 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the CAA. The Dukes' league loss came at home last week, when No. 12 Maine went for a two-point conversion in overtime and was successful for a 25-24 victory.

"We played about as good as we could play," Matthews said. "They just made one more play at the end than we did."

While Matthews' squad was competitive to the end against Maine, Villanova coach Andy Talley saw his team get outclassed last week in a 47-17 loss at No. 6 New Hampshire. Matthews may have been wishful that his team had made that one more play against Maine, but Talley has been waiting for anyone to step forward and make a play.

'Nova is scoring just 14.8 points per game while giving up 30.2.

"We had the ball about 12 more minutes [against New Hampshire], but we had five three-and-outs to start the game," said Talley, whose squad was victimized by big plays.

Talley is hoping that the return of redshirt freshman quarterback Dustin Thomas can remedy some of what ails the Wildcats.

Thomas, who left St. Augustine as South Jersey's career leader in touchdown passes, suffered a shoulder injury during 'Nova's second game of the season and hasn't suited up since.

Last week, the 6-foot, 200-pound Thomas began throwing again, and Talley said Thomas was expected to practice Wednesday. Thomas is more mobile than redshirt senior Christian Culicerto and freshman Chris Polony, who have shared the job since Thomas has been out.

"We'll try to decide if he's really ready to get back in the game, because we really need a quarterback that can get out of trouble," Talley said. "When he's flushed, he can find people downfield and can run the ball. Christian really couldn't do that, and Chris Polony is not bad at it, but I think right now if we can get Dustin back, it will help us a little bit."

Contact staff writer Kevin Tatum at 215-854-2583 or ktatum@phillynews.com.