After deflating loss, Villanova moved on

Whooooosssssh.

That was the air going out of a football in a team meeting room at Villanova University on Oct. 26, the day after the Wildcats lost to top-ranked James Madison.

In an effort to get his players to forget about the excruciating 23-19 defeat -- which came on a last-second, Hail Mary pass that was batted in the air by a Villanova defender in the end zone and into the arms of JMU's Bosco Williams -- Wildcats coach Andy Talley had plunged a knife into the pigskin.

"We wanted to keep it very simple," Talley said this week, "because you're coming off a pretty hard loss.

"We lost the league championship on that Hail Mary pass. That means no rings. No high ranking. And it means you're going to have to fight your way into the playoffs. So it's not your normal, everyday loss. How do you dismiss something like that? You can talk about, 'Hey, let's forget about it. Time to get ready for the next game. Blah, blah, blah.'"

Instead, Talley decided to do something different to hopefully get his players' minds off that game and refocus on the remaining schedule.

"All I did was get the JMU game ball and brought it up to the kids in our Sunday meeting," Talley said. "To tell you the truth, I had to put the knife in it before [the meeting] because I was afraid I might not be able to get the knife into the football right there. So I put the knife in the ball and kept it looking like there was air in the ball.

"Then I just put the knife in the seam where the hole was and I just flattened the ball. I said, 'That's it. It's over. It's history. That game is done. It's as flat and as airless as this football. Let's go play the next game.'"

The Wildcats (10-2) have performed quite well since that meeting, winning five straight, including a 55-28 romp over Colgate on Saturday in the first round of the playoffs. That sets up a rematch with JMU (11-1) in Harrisonburg in Saturday's quarterfinals.

So what did the players think of Talley's act?

"It was a pretty unique thing to do," wide receiver Phil Atkinson said. "He stuck the knife in the football, and it was a symbolization of that game being in the past. So we got over it, and we had the rest of the season to worry about. We couldn't worry about it because it's never a one-game season.

"It helped us because it made us believe we weren't disappointing the coaching staff and that we had to move on."

Has that loss given the Wildcats any more incentive for this week's game?

"JMU is a great program, and they've been a premier program for the past several years," Atkinson said. "Everything happens for a reason. We have another opportunity to play them on Saturday, and hopefully, we can take advantage of it."

Talley is just glad the Wildcats have another shot at the Dukes, who advanced with a 38-35 decision over Wofford in Harrisonburg last weekend.

"Both teams know each other pretty well," he said. "We've played each other for a hundred years. It's the coming of World War III, pretty much, for us."
Contact John Packett at (804) 649-6313 or .