BY ROCK HOFFMAN
College Football Editor
With week one in the books, it’s time to review it and preview week two for the college football teams in the Philadelphia area.
No. 5 Villanova opened with a 45-17 win over Lehigh on Friday night. Junior quarterback Connor Watkins had a memorable first career start, he threw for three touchdowns, ran for another, and completed 11 of his 15 passes for 298 yards, which is the most in school history for a quarterback making his first-ever start.
“Impressed, yes,” said Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante at the weekly college coaches’ luncheon, “surprised, no. It was his first start, but he is confident slash cocky enough where he wasn’t nervous going into the game. He was ready.”
For his efforts, Watkins was named the FootballStories College Offensive Player of the Week.
This week, the Wildcats (1-0) are on the road at LIU (0-1) which is coming off a 37-0 loss at Toledo. Ferrante says they don’t know much about the Sharks.
“It’s almost like preparing for another opener,” he said, “since we don’t have a lot of familiarity with these guys. We haven’t played them since 2019, they have a whole new coaching staff since 2019. We do have last week’s film, so we do have a snapshot of them from this year.”
Kickoff is at 1 on Saturday afternoon.
On Saturday afternoon, No. 15 Delaware Valley opened with a big defensive effort to beat Westminster College 22-8. The Aggies (1-0) were led by defensive end Michael Nobile, who was returning after suffering a season-ending injury last year. The senior had a pair of sacks and three quarterback hurries as the Aggies defense held the Titans (0-1) to 157 yards of total offense.
Nobile was named the FootballStories College Defensive Player of the Week.
This week, Delaware Valley travels to Montclair State (1-0) for a noon kickoff on Saturday.
On Friday night, West Chester edged Bentley 17-16. Sean Henry kicked a 34-yard field goal to provide the difference after missing two earlier tries. The Golden Rams (1-0) entertain No. 18 Slippery Rock (1-0) on Saturday at noon.
“They’re now a football school,” said Golden Rams head coach Bill Zwaan when asked what makes Slippery Rock good enough that they’ve been ranked in the top 25 at the start of the last eight seasons. “They’ve got talent and they do a good job. They’ve got great coaching too and a great tradition.”
Also Friday night, Temple opened the Stan Drayton era with a 30-0 loss at Duke. On Saturday, the Owls (0-1) have their home opener against Lafayette (1-0) at 2.
For the eighth season in a row, Rowan and Widener battled to open the season. This year, the Profs jumped out to a 35-0 lead before Widener fought back. In the end, it was Rowan (1-0) winning 42-20. This Saturday, Rowan is at Springfield (1-0) at noon while the Pride (0-1) is at Hampden-Sydney (0-1) for a 1 o’clock kickoff.
Two other teams in the region opened with each other as Delaware State beat Lincoln 34-0. This week, the Lions (0-1) visit Central State (1-0) while the Hornets (1-0) keep it in the First State and look for their first-ever win against Delaware (1-0). The Blue Hens, who play the host, Saturday evening at 6, are coming off a 14-7 upset of Navy.
TCNJ opened with a 31-13 victory over Moravian University. This week, the Lions (1-0) go to No. 15 SUNY-Courtland (1-0).
Ursinus topped Alvernia 59-27 on Friday night. This Saturday, the Bears (1-0) open Centennial Conference play with a visit from No. 10 Johns Hopkins.
Email Rock Hoffman at rock@footballstories.com