2017 Villanova Wildcats football team

The 2017 Villanova Wildcats football team represented Villanova University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Mark Ferrante and played their home games at Villanova Stadium. They were a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. They finished the season 5–6, 3–5 in CAA play to finish in a three-way tie for seventh place.

2017 Villanova Wildcats football
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
2017 record	5–6 (3–5 CAA)
Head coach	Mark Ferrante (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Sam Venuto (19th season)
Defensive coordinator	Joe Trainer (1st season)
Home stadium	Villanova Stadium (Capacity: 12,500)

2017 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 2 James Madison $^		8	–	0					14	–	1
No. 11 Stony Brook ^		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 20 Elon ^		6	–	2					8	–	4
No. 12 New Hampshire ^		5	–	3					9	–	5
Delaware		5	–	3					7	–	4
Richmond		4	–	4					6	–	5
Towson		3	–	5					5	–	6
Villanova		3	–	5					5	–	6
Maine		3	–	5					4	–	6
Albany		2	–	6					4	–	7
Rhode Island		2	–	6					3	–	8
William & Mary		0	–	8					2	–	9
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	12:30 p.m.	at No. 17 Lehigh*	No. 10	Goodman Stadium Bethlehem, PA	SE2	W 38–35	5,816
September 9	3:30 p.m.	at Temple*	No. 6	Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA (Mayor's Cup)	ESPN3	L 13–16	35,117
September 16	6:00 p.m.	Lafayette*	No. 7	Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA	ESPN3	W 59–0	9,671
September 23	7:00 p.m.	at Albany	No. 7	Bob Ford Field Albany, NY	ESPN3	L 10–19 ^OT	6,866
September 30	6:00 p.m.	at Towson	No. 14	Johnny Unitas Stadium Towson, MD	TSN	W 24–9	5,017
October 7	1:00 p.m.	Maine	No. 12	Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA	CSL[1]	W 31–0	4,505
October 14	3:30 p.m.	at No. 1 James Madison	No. 11	Bridgeforth Stadium Harrisonburg, VA (College GameDay)	CSL[1]	L 8–30	25,993
October 28	3:30 p.m.	No. 10 Elon	No. 13	Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA	NNAA	L 14–19	5,451
November 4	1:00 p.m.	Richmond	No. 20	Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA	NNAA	L 0–22	3,508
November 11	12:30 p.m.	at Rhode Island		Meade Stadium Kingston, RI	CSL	L 6–20	2,877
November 18	1:00 p.m.	Delaware		Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA (Battle of the Blue)	NNAA	W 28–7	5,109
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS FCS Poll released prior to game Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

• Source: Schedule

Game summaries

at Lehigh

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Wildcats	7	21	7	3	38
No. 17 Mountain Hawks	7	7	14	7	35

See also: 2017 Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
8–5	2016	W, 26–21

at Temple

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 6 Wildcats	0	0	3	10	13
Owls	3	7	3	3	16

See also: 2017 Temple Owls football team and Mayor's Cup (Temple-Villanova)

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
15–16–2	2012	L, 10–41

Lafayette

	1	2	3	4	Total
Leopards	0	0	0	0	0
No. 7 Wildcats	13	36	7	3	59

See also: 2017 Lafayette Leopards football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–4	2016	W, 31–14

at Albany

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
No. 7 Wildcats	0	0	0	10	0	10
Great Danes	0	3	0	7	9	19

See also: 2017 Albany Great Danes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–0	2016	W, 24–13

at Towson

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 14 Wildcats	7	0	3	14	24
Tigers	0	6	4	0	10

See also: 2017 Towson Tigers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
8–5	2016	W, 40–21

Maine

	1	2	3	4	Total
Black Bears	0	0	0	0	0
No. 12 Wildcats	7	14	7	3	31

See also: 2017 Maine Black Bears football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
11–9	2016	W, 26–7

at James Madison

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 11 Wildcats	0	0	0	8	8
No. 1 Dukes	3	10	3	14	30

See also: 2017 James Madison Dukes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
11–14	2016	L, 7–20

Elon

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 10 Phoenix	0	7	3	9	19
No. 13 Wildcats	7	0	7	0	14

See also: 2017 Elon Phoenix football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
1–0	2016	W, 23–6

Richmond

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spiders	3	5	14	0	22
No. 20 Wildcats	0	0	0	0	0

See also: 2017 Richmond Spiders football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
22–12	2016	L, 0–23

at Rhode Island

	1	2	3	4	Total
Wildcats	3	0	3	0	6
Rams	3	7	10	0	20

See also: 2017 Rhode Island Rams football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
24–8	2016	W, 35–0

Delaware

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fightin' Blue Hens	0	0	0	7	7
Wildcats	14	0	14	0	28

See also: 2017 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
28–21–1	2016	W, 41–10

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final
STATS FCS	10	6	7	7	14	12	11	15	13	20	RV	NR	NR	NR
Coaches	9	8	8	8	17	15	14	16	15	20	RV	NR	NR	NR

References

1. Washburn, Rob (August 18, 2017). "CAA PARTNERS WITH CBS SPORTS DIGITAL". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved August 22, 2017.