The Patriot League debut for William & Mary couldn’t have gone much better. For #8-ranked Villanova it couldn’t have gone much worse. Despite leading by ten points with under a minute to play, the Wildcats collapsed and lost their season opener at home to their league mates that followed them over form the Patriot League. The Tribe are celebrating a win that might just vault them into the rankings and make them a contender in their new conference while ‘Nova is left wondering what the heck just happened. The importance of finishing has perhaps never been on full display more than it was in Philadelphia on Friday evening.
The drama, controversy… or whatever it could be called… about quarterback Pat McQuaide’s eligibility loomed large over the Wildcats heading in. At what felt like the eleventh hour McQuaide was deemed able to play when it seemed like he wouldn’t and it felt as though Villanova should be the shoo-in favorite to win and they were. Mark Ferrante’s squad was giving their old CAA-turned-Patriot League rivals 11.5 points and they certainly lived up to that billing early on. McQuaide and the offense scored on their opening possession with a five-yard touchdown run from Isaiah Ragland.
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They had the look of a team coming back from making an appearance in the FCS semifinals just eight months ago. That guise, though, would not last long. In fact it only took the Tribe four plays to respond. After two failed run plays, William & Mary quarterback Winston Watkins took to the air. He floated a long 69-yard pass that was hauled in by receiver Carson Jenkins. In a blink the game was tied and it was clear that the Tribe had not come to mess around.
That notion was made even more evident in the second quarter. Mike London’s team took a 10-7 lead off the foot of kicker Max Lipinski and then shortly thereafter the defense made its first big play of the night, intercepting McQuaide. Defensive back Cade Ellis came down with the pick, effectively swinging the pendulum of momentum totally to the side of the visitors.
William & Mary was unable to do anything with the turnover, though, and Villanova responded to the adversity well. Following a forced punt, the Wildcats regained the lead with their second TD run of the evening. This one was a 11-yard scamper from Ja’briel Mace to make it 14-10. The score would balloon to 17-10 by the break with a Dominic LeBlanc field goal.
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The Tribe fought back hard in the third quarter. Another field goal was followed up by a big defensive stop. Down by four, Watkins and the offense again moved quickly to snatch the lead right back. Aided by a fortuitous own fumble recovery by running back Andrew King, William & Mary scored again when Watkins called his own number and pushed in from a yard out. The ensuing PAT would fail, though, ensuring the score would be 19-17 heading into the fourth quarter. That missed extra point, it turned out, would end up being huge.
The Wildcats continued to falter in the final 15 minutes. Just one play into their first drive of the fourth quarter, Mace fumbled and William & Mary linebacker Harrison Johnson recovered. Watkins went on to orchestrate a 13-play drive that ate up over five minutes. It only ended in a field goal, though, meaning that Villanova was still just one score away.
But then it began to avalanche in a bad way on the Tribe. On their next series, William & Mary gave it right back when sophomore Wildcats DB Jamie Tyson picked off Watkins. Shortly after McQuaide found Brandon Binkowski for the eight-yard score. A subsequent turnover on downs saw Villanova add on again with a 37-yard touchdown run from Ragland. In a flurry of mistakes and big plays, ‘Nova led it 32-22 with just 2:43 to go.
Trailing by ten, Watkins and the offense were surprisingly lethargic. They did get down into field goal range for Lipinski but, with a mere 53 seconds left, it seemed like those three points would be inconsequential. All Villanova needed to do was recover the upcoming onside kick. That, though, was a lot easier said than done. Sam Braidwood came in and delivered a line drive stinger that flew by Wildcats receiver Braden Reed. Reed could not fall on it and instead William & Mary got it, much to the dismay of the Wildcats fans.
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That dismay turned to agony three plays later when Watkins fired a long pass to Kai Austin. Austin got behind the defense on a blown coverage and corralled the 37-yard tying score. The stadium fell silent save for the celebration of the Tribe sideline. Overtime loomed, or so it seemed. Another massive mistake in the literal final seconds, though, would ensure that even that wouldn’t be the case for ‘Nova.
McQuaide misread a pass with just five ticks to go and Ellis jumped the route. His second interception of the night was the one that set up the improbable winning score for William & Mary as he returned it back the edge of field goal range. Lipinski came out and nailed the 45-yard attempt, completing the epic comeback.
The Tribe defense forced four takeaways in total and Watkins accounted for over 300 all-purpose yards on the other side. More impressive than any stat, however, was the tremendous amount of overall team grit displayed by William & Mary in those closing minutes. With the game seemingly falling around them, they calmly made play after play and now… in a truly unbelievable manner… they are 1-0 with an early leg up in the Patriot League race.
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For Villanova this is about as bad as it gets. Losing a conference (and season) opener to an unranked foe at home in that fashion is brutal and one that will be really hard to rebound from. McQuaide finished his night with 270 passing yards and a score but also had three interceptions. The last, of course, was the final dagger but all three proved costly as did the lost fumble from Mace. Receiver Jake Hinton caught four passes for 132 yards and Ragland toted it 14 times for 94 on the ground. It was all for naught, though, and now they are left to deal with an extremely ugly season-opening loss.
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