Round 2: Liberty @ Villanova

[dwtime]

Congrats Nova, two CAA teams in the final 8. Any from the OVC?

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Nice win 'Nova! The weather looked terrible so this was not an easy game to play imo. The Wildcats are such a tough team. They're definitely not pretty but beauty doesn't matter at this point....

[kdinva]

Great contest.........LU gotta be bumbed after having that 13-0 lead....

[dwtime]

VU 29, LU 22

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Two incompletions make it 3rd down and Woodrum hits Herman again at the 50 for a first down. 4 seconds left.

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Hail Mary time and Woodrums pass is knocked down by Villanova in the end zone.

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Final

Villanova 29
Liberty 22.

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Sloppy at times, but a great finish for two fine teams.

Sloppy conditions, Liberty came to play no need to hang their heads they gave Villanova everything they could handle.

[VUCats02]

Nova survives with 4 turnovers! Hoping for better weather next weekend.

[VUCats02]

Liberty played a hell of a game. That drive in the 3rd quarter was dominating. If they could have gotten 7 there, game would've been completely different.

[rokamortis]

Congrats on a great comeback Nova. Liberty had nothing to be ashamed of but it must sting knowing they had the game for 3 quarters but gave it up in the 4th.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Congrats on a great comeback Nova. Liberty had nothing to be ashamed of but it must sting knowing they had the game for 3 quarters but gave it up in the 4th.

That was a close game all the way through imo. I think Gill relied a little too much on his stud kicker...

[VUCats02]

That's going to be a long 30-bus ride home for Liberty. 7 hours to ponder that 3rd and 1 play call.

[MR. CHICKEN]

20259..........ANDY & KC......MEET...YET AGIN'.......xcoolx....AWK!

[knucklehead]

Funny that LU lost in the same way they beat JMU. LU turned it over to JMU 4 times and still won on a big long game ending drive. Novo turned it over 4 times and beat LU on a big Long game ending drive. Wild game.

Very proud f this team. A few play calls that I might question, but over all very happy with this run. Just wish LU could have finished a drive or 2 with tds. If they even got 1 td rather than a FG, they are driving for a tying FG with 1:12. With Lunsford who knows.

[Bisonator]

Congrats to Nova!

[CHIP72]

I think I'm finally mostly dry after attending the game. And what a game it was. That game-winning TD drive by Villanova that took up most of the latter-half of the 4th quarter is the kind of drive that's hard to forget...from both perspectives. A total of 18 plays, all runs.

I think the key play of the game was the 87 yard pass play by Villanova when the Wildcats were down 13-0 and looked to be in serious trouble. IMO, though Liberty did some very good things, Villanova gradually asserted its will more and more as the game progressed, and the Wildcats would have won more solidly had it not been for their turnovers. That's not to take away from Liberty; the Flames were very competitive and should feel good about their effort. The Liberty fans also made a tremendous showing numbers-wise (though doing the "I believe that we will win" chant at the end of the 3rd quarter of a one score game is generally not a good idea xspankx.)


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[CHIP72]

One Liberty decision I questioned, besides the 15 yard pass on that one 3rd and 1, was their decision to go for 2 points on the Robertson fumble return TD that made it 19-14. IMO, you go for the regular extra point there and make it 20-14.


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[CatsWinCatsWinCatsWin]

Great game. I am finally dried out. The weather was tolerable during the first half. The winds picked up and the temperature dropped during the second half. Liberty has a good team and some great fans.

That last drive was a thing to behold. It was either Robertson, Manongi, or Medley just smashing it down the field and using the clock. They were not going to be denied. All of the Liberty fans that I ran into during and after the game were great. (As compared to our opposing fans from our hoops game earlier in the day.)

[Pards Rule]

I think I'm finally mostly dry after attending the game. And what a game it was. That game-winning TD drive by Villanova that took up most of the latter-half of the 4th quarter is the kind of drive that's hard to forget...from both perspectives. A total of 18 plays, all runs.

I think the key play of the game was the 87 yard pass play by Villanova when the Wildcats were down 13-0 and looked to be in serious trouble. IMO, though Liberty did some very good things, Villanova gradually asserted its will more and more as the game progressed, and the Wildcats would have won more solidly had it not been for their turnovers. That's not to take away from Liberty; the Flames were very competitive and should feel good about their effort. The Liberty fans also made a tremendous showing numbers-wise (though doing the "I believe that we will win" chant at the end of the 3rd quarter of a one score game is generally not a good idea xspankx.)


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Hey Chip, I assume you are dried out now. Hey the Inquirer reported in today's editions that the attendance was 3,113 (which is a farce as "attendance" is classified as tickets sold not turnstile clicks or actually scanner beeps now) but a picture accompanying the game recap shows Nova QB Robertson getting his first TD (which boxscore showed mid 2nd) and apparently capturing a good part of the home stand (you can see windows which I assume is press box usually home side) from midfield toward the one end zone and there are seemingly only a HANDFUL of folks there at best. What is your estimation of the crowd? Supposedly Liberty had 23 busses there so what was the balance (or imbalance as it was) between home and visitors attendance?

[CHIP72]

Pards Rule - it is hard for me to estimate the home side attendance because I was sitting on that side down on the west (or from TV point of view, left) side of the stadium and because of the rain I didn't really want to move around much. (Had there been no rain or less rain I probably would have ventured down there to see if I could get a better seat.) I couldn't really tell how many people were sitting on the home sideline side at the east end of the stadium.

I do know Villanova generally doesn't draw well for football and the weather was miserable yesterday, especially as the game progressed (got windier and colder). I wouldn't be surprised if that announced attendance figure is reasonably accurate. Liberty did have a large contingent of fans, though even on the visitors sideline the last couple of sections near both end zones, especially the west end zone, were mostly empty.

As a side note, the thing that stinks about Villanova Stadium is that it is impossible to sit high enough to get a good view. The 200 level seats at Yankee Stadium for L-L 150 were probably higher than the top row seats at Villanova Stadium.

[Pards Rule]

Pards Rule - it is hard for me to estimate the home side attendance because I was sitting on that side down on the west (or from TV point of view, left) side of the stadium and because of the rain I didn't really want to move around much. (Had there been no rain or less rain I probably would have ventured down there to see if I could get a better seat.) I couldn't really tell how many people were sitting on the home sideline side at the east end of the stadium.

I do know Villanova generally doesn't draw well for football and the weather was miserable yesterday, especially as the game progressed (got windier and colder). I wouldn't be surprised if that announced attendance figure is reasonably accurate. Liberty did have a large contingent of fans, though even on the visitors sideline the last couple of sections near both end zones, especially the west end zone, were mostly empty.

As a side note, the thing that stinks about Villanova Stadium is that it is impossible to sit high enough to get a good view. The 200 level seats at Yankee Stadium for L-L 150 were probably higher than the top row seats at Villanova Stadium.

Indeed that was a good seat at Yankee :)...Thanks I just was astonished at the lack of folks from the picture.

[CHIP72]

I should note the home sideline stands at Villanova Stadium are a little strange - the seats extend further down the sideline on the east (on TV, right) side of the stadium than they do on the west side, so the stands near the east end are not good seats and are worse seats than the end section seats on the west end.

On a somewhat related side note, you can tell that the football field location at Villanova Stadium was shifted eastward by probably about 15 yards at some point in the past, just based on where the access/entrance points to the seating areas and restrooms are located. I think the construction of the Pavilion, located immediately behind the visitors sideline near the west endzone, necessitated that move.

One other thing - if/when Lafayette plays at Villanova, you can get there fairly easily via public transit by using PATCO or the NJ Transit Atlantic City Line to Center City Philadelphia, and then using either the SEPTA Paoli/Thorndale (former R5) Regional Rail line to Villanova station or the SEPTA Market-Frankford Line and SEPTA Norristown High Speed Line (former Route 100) to the Stadium stop on the Norristown Line. I used the MFL and NHSL to/from the 30th Street Station/University City area for both yesterday's game and the 11/15 Albany/Villanova game and had no problems.

[knucklehead]

Still mulling a lot of things through my head. Not going for it on 3-1 on the 2nd to last drive really doomed Liberty. That and kicking a fg on 4-1 in the 1st quarter (50yd). Just thought LU was not aggressive enough in this game. That has been a calling card in this run, and they went away from it. It was strange being ahead instead of playing from behind, and maybe that changed the calling.

Either way, this was a historical season for Liberty football and the sky is the limit. Proud of the coaches and players. Still wish they were still playing.

[Anovafan]

Great effort by Liberty and a great showing by their fans. I heard they brought 30 buses with fans, really impressive. Nova turned the ball over too much and should have lost but they found a way to win. Just about all of the turnovers were caused by Liberty so Nova didn't gift anything. That Liberty kicker was amazing but I think he cost Liberty the victory in a strange sort of way. If he wasn't so darn good they would have gone for TDs instead of settling for FGs. A more experienced playoff team probably would have gone for the jugular and put Nova away. You can't let a good team hang around late; they just may come back to beat you. I was very impressed with the talent, size and speed of Liberty. A very fine team. Thankfully Nova is on to our old friend KC Keeler.

[MR. CHICKEN]

Great effort by Liberty and a great showing by their fans. I heard they brought 30 buses with fans, really impressive. Nova turned the ball over too much and should have lost but they found a way to win. Just about all of the turnovers were caused by Liberty so Nova didn't gift anything. That Liberty kicker was amazing but I think he cost Liberty the victory in a strange sort of way. If he wasn't so darn good they would have gone for TDs instead of settling for FGs. A more experienced playoff team probably would have gone for the jugular and put Nova away. You can't let a good team hang around late; they just may come back to beat you. I was very impressed with the talent, size and speed of Liberty. A very fine team. Thankfully Nova is on to our old friend KC Keeler.


20276.......YEAH.........'CEPT.......HE'S PLAYIN' WHIFF....TEJAS TALENT.......NOT....JERSEY/PA....SLUGS.....:p.....BRAWK!

[HailSzczur]

Nova's Game Highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GKeprOnD2U&list=UUPXeRSIhnpDrZ8asN2m4u7Q

[4bidn1]

Nova's Game Highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GKeprOnD2U&list=UUPXeRSIhnpDrZ8asN2m4u7Q

very very misleading video, this was way more of a dog fight than what 'nova probably anticipated, and very well SHOULD have lost, but they didn't so spoils go to the victor.

the QB Robertson is the truth, even as aN LU fan, that kid was the best kid on the field tonight on both sides of the ball, any and every accolade he gets he deserves, and they will go as far as he can carry them.

[rokamortis]

very very misleading video,

Most team highlight videos are like this. I remember watching some of teams we beat and I sear we must have lost the game.

[HailSzczur]

very very misleading video, this was way more of a dog fight than what 'nova probably anticipated, and very well SHOULD have lost, but they didn't so spoils go to the victor.

the QB Robertson is the truth, even as aN LU fan, that kid was the best kid on the field tonight on both sides of the ball, any and every accolade he gets he deserves, and they will go as far as he can carry them.

It wasn't made as "game highlight", its just a Nova highlight. Wish I saw a whole games worth of highlights, had to miss the game for a concert. Ended up listening to the last quarter on the radio in the car.

[Anovafan]

It wasn't made as "game highlight", its just a Nova highlight. Wish I saw a whole games worth of highlights, had to miss the game for a concert. Ended up listening to the last quarter on the radio in the car.

All of the playoff games were still up on ESPN3 as replays, at least as of last night.

[Anovafan]

very very misleading video, this was way more of a dog fight than what 'nova probably anticipated, and very well SHOULD have lost, but they didn't so spoils go to the victor.

the QB Robertson is the truth, even as aN LU fan, that kid was the best kid on the field tonight on both sides of the ball, any and every accolade he gets he deserves, and they will go as far as he can carry them.

I went back and watched the replay without the emotion of the live event and while Liberty could have won the game if they did some things differently (better play calling in critical spots) I don't think I can say they should have won the game (based on the play that was on the field) after watching it again. Nova dominated the second half. Liberty only scored 3 points. Nova had 447 yards of total offense (230 rush, 214 pass and 18 first downs), Liberty had 246 total offense (64 rush, 182 pass and 14 first downs). It was absolutely a dog fight, don't get me wrong there. Robertson is amazing but he didn't even play that well for him; Liberty did a great job on him the first half. He is actually better than he played against Liberty.

[Anovafan]

20276.......YEAH.........'CEPT.......HE'S PLAYIN' WHIFF....TEJAS TALENT.......NOT....JERSEY/PA....SLUGS.....:p.....BRAWK!

'DAT TALENT BE FROZEN COME SAT 'UH DAY, TEJAS DON'T LIKE COLD NORF WHINDS.....

[Libertine]

Personally, I think the difference in the game wasn't Robertson, it was MLB Don Cherry. That dude is easily the fastest and possibly one of the smartest middle linebackers I have ever seen at any level.

[knucklehead]

Yea, the inability to sustain offensive drives was more of a factor in the outcome than Robertson.