Aug. 13, 2003

In the 2003 Sports Network pre-season I-AA football poll released on Monday, August 11, the Villanova Wildcats earned a No. 11 national ranking. Villanova recorded 908 points and is the second-highest ranked Atlantic 10 Conference team. Northeastern leads the way for the Atlantic 10 at No. 6.

Other Atlantic 10 schools receiving recognition include Massachusetts at No. 14, Maine at No. 16 and Delaware at No. 17. McNeese State tallied 25 first place votes and 1,905 points to earn the top spot in the pre-season poll. Rounding out the top five include Georgia Southern at No. 2, Western Illinois at No. 3, Montana at No. 4 and Western Kentucky at No. 5.

Villanova kickoffs the 2003 campaign on Thursday, August 28 at Villanova Stadium against Hampton. The Wildcats are coming off an impressive 2002 season where they went 11-4 overall and advanced to the semifinal round of the NCAA I-AA playoffs for the first time in school history.