Recap | Box Score | Notes

Villanova head coach Andy Talley...

Opening statement: Certainly it was your typical Villanova-Delaware game. I knew that we were going to be in for a rough game. [Delaware] is playing a lot of young players and I think a lot of those young players are starting to gel now. Coach Brock is bringing this team along. They have had some close wins and some close losses, so their record is very deceiving. When you put it in the rivalry game it adds up to what you just saw. They brought out the very best in us, in very difficult situations. Our defense came up with some real big plays when they had to. It wasn't pretty the whole day because I think Delaware played very, very well in the second half. Obviously going in the playoffs we are happy to be 10-2 with a chance to be a top eight seed, which I think we should be.

On John Robertson: On fourth-and-15 with John Robertson, I think with three touchdown passes and rushing for 100 yards, without question he has to be the leading candidate for the Walter Payton Award. That is what a Walter Payton guy does. On fourth-and-15 he gets you the ball in the right place, and then he gets you in the end zone, and does so under duress.

On Robertson delivering when he is in close situations late in the game: John is one of those quarterbacks that is really in the upper, upper echelon of quarterbacking. He's smart, he's fast, he's accurate and he's a really good decision maker. That's the kind of guy you want when you're in those situations and he has a lot of poise. This is his third year starting, he's got one more year to play and he's the heart and soul of what we're doing. We don't have a superstar on the offensive team. He is the superstar and I really think he's the Walter Payton candidate. He's the guy. He's the best and this kind of performance today proves it. We wouldn't have gotten the win with anybody else. He's our guy.

On Villanova's difference between third down and fourth down conversions: They played a lot of man coverage. We don't have the fastest receivers in America. Their d-backs are good and they just stuck on us like fly paper. We could not get off of them. We could not get off of their coverage. When you got into the fourth down situations they loosened up a little bit and played a little more zone. That created some space for us and I think that was really the difference.

On the offense being bottled up before the final touchdown: We could not block them long enough for our receivers to get off coverage. That was our problem. John had to pat the ball, pat the ball and he saved us a couple of times just running and getting us out of trouble. Delaware played great. We brought the best out of them and they really, really played great. They were as good against us as Richmond was. Every now and then the other team can just play a little bit better. You need your ace in the hole and John was the guy who stood out for us.

On Delaware scoring with two minutes left and Villanova getting the ball back: They had quite a bit of run in that series. That was sort of their forte towards the second half of the game and they were taking time off the clock with the running game. I felt as long as we had our timeouts - we had two which was a good thing for us - and they gave us a couple of minutes, I figured we would be okay. If it was less than two than maybe you had to hop, but I have never been in a situation where you let a team score to get the ball back. That is too cerebral for me.

On the rivalry with Delaware and winning eight of the last nine games in the series: A lot of those games were like today where they could have gone either way. They just went our way. If you look at the series over my 30 years, at one point Tubby Raymond beat me five years in a row. Another time we beat them five years in a row. The last seven years, my last seven years at Villanova are my best seven-year run in my history here. We have a national championship, a semifinal appearance and a couple of playoff teams. I think we got in at a good time where we have been hot while Delaware made the transition from [former head coach] K.C. [Keeler] to Dave [Brock]. It is just one of those things and I don't think there is any special karma or magic that Villanova has in this particular game. Last year's game, you couldn't even draw that thing up. That was ridiculous. Today was a little bit more realistic. Teams can come back when there are two minutes to go, and teams do complete fourth-and-15s, so that happens. That is the best explanation I can give.

On whether the comeback is a reflection of the rivalry between the teams: I think so, no question about it. The rivalry is meaningful when you see them with the trophy at the end. That trophy sits in our office all year and no one even looks at it, except for me. Players come in and out all the time. Then all of a sudden on the field the players have the trophy and they are running over to the fans and showing the trophy to the fans. I think players today maybe don't show their emotions much but inside it's a big game for us. We also love playing at Delaware because of the big fan base. We are a very good away team because of that actually. When there is a big crowd it is a big hype for us.

Villanova junior quarterback John Robertson...

On his mindset at the beginning of the Wildcats game-winning drive: A lot of things were going through my head but I was thinking that going into the playoffs with a loss is a terrible way to do it. We have a special thing going on with this team and we wanted to set ourselves up for the best position so I just said that we can't lose. That is pretty much what I was saying the whole time. Even when there were dropped balls, I was just thinking there was one more down and you have to do it, every time. Getting into the playoffs and getting a really good seed is what I was thinking about.

On his fourth-and-15 completion to Poppy Livers: It was a play that we pulled out last week. [Offensive coordinator Sam] Venuto called a great play on that. [Poppy] ran a great route and got it.

On the game-winning touchdown pass to Kevin Gulyas: We do that all the time. It is a great play. Kevin is really fast and he gets separation from his man. They were playing man pretty much the whole second half of the game. We had to get separation from those guys.

On his 10-yard run on fourth-and-one before the touchdown pass: It was a designed play where Kevin was my lead blocker. I know he's got my back and he just looked at me and told me not to worry. He basically told me just to follow him.

On Villanova being 0-for-9 on third down, compared with 3-for-4 and two scores on fourth down: That is a credit to how much heart our team has. We are a special team and when we don't get it on third down we are ready to go on fourth down. Our offense doesn't want to go out. Even if we are on our own 30, we say let's just keep going for it because we have a lot of confidence.

On whether the atmosphere of a win like this will help Villanova in the playoffs: Games like these when you come out on top are always good for the team, especially going into the playoffs where they are going to be tough games and everyone is a good team now. This game really prepares us that if we are down, we never look at each other and say we are going to lose the game. We always just want to go out and keep doing our assignments. Our coaches really coach us up great. Any time we are losing or something like that, the main thing is saying on the sideline that we are just going to go back to the basics, do what we are taught and we'll be great.

Villanova junior quarterback Kevin Gulyas...

On his game-winning touchdown: It was really just a mesh play. I was fortunate to have my guy cut me loose and I think he went for Poppy. John was able to find me and we got the score.

On how close he was to the sideline when he made the catch: I don't even remember. It just happened so quick. I just focused on looking at the pylon and trying to get to it.

On whether Villanova had any doubts it would score on the final possession: In the summer this is what we train for. As Divison I athletes we live for pressure situations and there is no better way to do it then against Delaware and to win the game. That shows how special this group of guys is.

Villanova senior running back Kevin Monangai...

On his career-high three touchdowns and his running game: This is probably the most talented offensive line I've been behind in my college career. They are a bunch of hard-working guys. Ross Hall was not able to play today but Pete Sotiriou just as easily stepped up his game and led the offensive line to a great output today. It was really just a credit to them.

Villanova junior linebacker Don Cherry...

On the Delaware running game: In the first half they basically had one back and one tight end. They were really throwing the ball and they weren't really getting any production out of that. I am guessing that at halftime they went in and said they would come out with three tight ends - big guys - and try to pound the ball. We were ready for that but they have a lot of big guys, a lot of strong guys and they have two big running backs that are great players. We just had to buckle down. [Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Billy] Crocker did a great job calling the plays for us. We are a bend but don't break defense and John [Robertson] always helps us out.

On the potential for having a first round bye in the playoffs: It would be great. Fortunately we got this win. It was a great win and will drive the momentum to keep going. A bye would help us out a lot because we have a lot of guys that are banged up. We had our bye early in the season so it would really help us get healthy.

Delaware head coach Dave Brock...

Opening statement: Certainly I tip my hat to Villanova, to Coach Talley, his staff and the players. They did a great job finishing the game. We battled like crazy and I was proud of how the kids played and fought. I don't think we played particularly well, certainly at times in the game, but they battled like crazy. They had a really strong belief and a commitment to each other that jumped off the field out there. I am very proud of the effort. We have to find a way to stop coming up short, especially in this game two years in a row. It is bitterly disappointing and not the way we wanted to end the season. I take my hat off to Villanova. They made some plays and John [Robertson] is a good player; he found a way in some clutch situations on fourth down. Good for him.

On John Robertson: He is a terrific player. He is a guy where it doesn't matter how he is playing at a particular time. He is like the point guard, where you want the ball in his hands or want him to shoot the foul shot, whatever analogy you want to use. He has done a terrific job. We played lights out on defense in the second half and then all of a sudden he finds a way to get it done. We wanted to try to force them to kick another field goal. We weren't able to do that.

On the way his team played in the game: I tip my hat to [Delaware quarterback] Trent Hurley. He had an opportunity to drive the team down and put the winning score in the end zone and we did that. It was a battle back and forth where a lot of people took a lot of shots. We took a lot of body shots early in the game but the kids rose up and I thought the effort play by [wide receiver] Diante Cherry at the end of the half to chase that guy down after the interception, followed by the defensive stand, that was kind of a defining moment for what we were going to do [in the second half]. We came out and didn't play particularly well at times but we played hard and made some plays.

On the Delaware defense: In the first half it was a situation where we were playing almost sideways. We hadn't practiced that way. That kid (Robertson) causes you to slow up a little bit. You don't want to miss him so bad that you miss him a little bit. Once we got it cranked up in the second half of the second quarter all the way up to the end, we put a hat on him pretty good. It was that more than anything else. They are very complex offensively. They create a lot of 1-and-1's and they made good plays. They had three explosive plays that I can count. There was the reverse which you can't give up, there was the screen where they took off on us a little bit and then there was one other explosive play that really didn't allow us to play very much defense in those drives. When we are able to play defense and force them to earn it like we have been all year, we are a lot better defensive team as long as we can reduce and minimize those plays.