RICHMOND, Va. - During the ninth weekly CAA Football teleconference of the season on Monday, Villanova head coach Andy Talley gave his thoughts on the Wildcats' game against Albany and how the team is preparing for the bye week. Below is a transcript of Talley's comments.

Villanova Head Coach Andy Talley

On last week's game against Albany: It was pretty rough weather down here. I think we had 30 MPH winds. It was raining a little bit throughout the first part of the game. I knew we'd probably have to count on running the football. We were able to do that. We had very limited reps with Zach Bednarczyk, our quarterback. As you know, he had a concussion the week before. He only practiced on Friday when we got the clearance, which is not enough time for a guy to really get ready. He was not himself during the game, and we were afraid to run him on some of our read stuff. I don't think it was one of his best games, but the best thing we were able to do was hand the ball off to some running backs. Aaron Forbes was the Offensive Player of the Week in our league and had a great day running. Our offensive line blocked really well. We were very concerned about Albany. I've watched them. They took Richmond to the wire and played well up at Maine and just couldn't turn it over up there. They could have easily come in undefeated. They had our attention. Coming off such a lousy performance against Richmond the week before, for us, we really had to get our players motivated to play. We had over 100 of our former players back for Homecoming. So, there was a lot of emotion in the air. It was one of those games where we were able to put it all together - play really solid defense and have a good day running the ball.

On the running game: We have three really good running backs. Javon White and Matt Gudzak as well. We kind of stuck with Aaron just having a hot hand. You go with the feel and just stay with that. That's tough on the other two kids, because they're really good players for us. Matt Gudzak was a starter for us, as was Javon White. It gets a little itchy when you have three guys who are really good and you just can't get them the reps that you need. Last year at this time, we lost all three running backs. As an old running backs coach, I always feel like you can never have enough running backs ever. We're just going to have to love those guys up a little bit and just roll with it as we head into the rough part of the season.

On this past weekend's events and the Andrew J. Talley Athletic Center: We had a big event on Friday. They surprised me with the dedication of the building with my name on it. Around here, all of the buildings have priests' names on them. I was hoping lighting wouldn't strike or something like that. It was a heck of an honor and an emotional weekend. I really had to keep myself away from the emotion, and they surprised me when they came out with the "V" on the helmet with my name in the middle of the "V". So I was like, let's just play. It was a tremendous honor, fantastic. The kids played really well. I just tried to keep myself low-key. I had taken all of my heart medication, so my heartbeat was probably around 60. That was a good thing. I was able to get through it. It was Homecoming. A lot of former players were back. For an outgoing coach, it couldn't be any better in terms of things a guy would like to have in his last year of coaching.

On what the new athletic center means to Villanova football: It gives Villanova a place. Villanova in 1981 dropped football, and was without it for four years. In 1985, I took the program over and we rebuilt it. It's kind of like never again. I think that building identifies the success we've had in football. It gives football a place here at the university. We've done it in a class fashion. The great thing about it as well, it not only gives us a one stop shop for football, but it serves so many other teams. The weight room is fantastic. All of the men's and women's teams can use that. Academic advising is in the building. The training facility in the building is amazing for all athletes. There's an entertainment center on the third floor that is magnificent. It overlooks the stadium, where all teams can meet and have alumni functions. It literally serves all of the athletic community - men's and women's teams. We did it right when we put this thing together.

On the defensive effort to get nine sacks during the game: We knew coming in that Albany was very explosive, and that our defense was going to have to carry us because we weren't sure if Zach Bednarczyk was going to play. We kind of stoked them up about you guys are going to have to win this game for us. They went in and played that way. We really held Albany back pretty good. I think it was 24-0 going into the fourth quarter, and they had the big run on us. Then we fumbled coming out, and they picked it up and ran it in. Pretty much, we had as good a defensive effort as you could have. I think our defense set it up by Tanoh Kpassagnon. We had 15 or 16 scouts looking at him. I think a lot of other players were going, hey there's a lot of scouts here. I need to play well, and maybe they'll look at me too. It was a really good effort. Albany, a young team coming along. The wind made it a rough day to play offense, and I think it played into the defensive halves.

On the play of Ed Shockley: He's a young linebacker that has really come on in our program. He's got a real knack for the football, a Don Cherry type of linebacker, along with Austin Calitro. Those guys cover a lot of your mistakes, your linebackers do. He can run, and he'll hit you. We're really pleased to see his progression.

On the bye week: We use the same procedure on the bye week. We give them off Sunday and Monday. We'll have a limited feel on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Then we'll give them Friday and Saturday off and come back on Sunday to get ready. So we'll put a little bit of a game plan together for Maine this week. We're fairly healthy right now. Alex Padovani, a wideout, was out this past game. He'll be back. I think it just gives your kids a chance to get their legs back. We're healthier than we've ever been at this time of the year, other than in 2009 when we won the National Championship. That year, we played the same 22 guys against Montana that we started against Temple.