RICHMOND, Va. - During the final weekly CAA Football teleconference of the regular season on Monday, Villanova head coach Andy Talley gave his thoughts on the Wildcats' loss against JMU and how the team is preparing for a road game at Delaware. Below is a transcript of Talley's comments.

Villanova Head Coach Andy Talley

On the game against JMU: We turned the ball over, and in a game like that, you can't turn the ball over once. They were weird turnovers. It wasn't like we fumbled. We had three tipped balls that were intercepted. It's not like he threw it to the wrong guy. We just didn't do a great job blocking up front, and the tip balls really hurt. We gave them the ball inside our 10-yard line twice. You can't do that if you're playing in a big-time game like that. Really what it amounts to is that our defense showed up and did a great job. I think we did as good a job as anyone could do against JMU. We just really did not play well from an offensive standpoint. The offensive line got handled, and it was just a miserable day offensively for us. Our defense kept us in the game. It was really disappointing in terms of I think we had it right where we wanted it, a home game, lots of emotion in the stadium, a great defensive effort which you're going to have to against JMU. We felt like we had to hold them under 21, and we held them to 20. It really should have been less than that. It was a hard-fought, tough game. We have to put that in the rearview mirror quickly, because we're going to Delaware and that's a rival game. It doesn't matter what the record is. It's a big one for us. It means a lot to everybody here, and it also has implications for a potential playoff spot. We immediately erased the board. The JMU game was history, and we need to move on and get ready for the Blue Hens who are playing rather well and a very big concern for us right now.

On the defensive game plan against JMU: I think the thing that is a little misleading is that Bryan Schor didn't play in the second half. They sort of managed the game very well in the second half. We did not take advantage of him not being in the game. From a defensive standpoint, we just didn't let him have his way running and throwing the football in the first half. The longer we left our defense out there, it didn't matter who the second quarterback was. We knew that they would have a good kid come in, and they could still run the ball. I think we just wanted to keep everything in front of us, not give them anything easy and make them work for everything they got. We gave them the ball inside our 10-yard line twice, so we put a great strain on our defense. I would have to say that right now this is probably one of the best defenses that we've ever had here. It's just a shame that we wasted a great effort and did not show up from an offensive standpoint. Very unfortunate, because we could have gotten it done, I think. We just didn't play very well, and I think JMU had a lot to do with that. They played so much better than they looked on tape. They came ready to play, and you have to give them a lot of credit, because they ran the gauntlet. They played really tough teams coming into this game. They had to get on the road and come up here and beat us, and they did what they had to do. We just have to move on quickly, because Delaware is waiting. It's an incredibly important game.

On the rivalry between Villanova and Delaware: It dates back to when Tubby Raymond was the coach there. We've had some incredible, incredible contests with Delaware, games where it went to the wire and overtime games. I think coaching against him is something that I'll remember, because he was one of the greats in the college coaching profession. I really enjoyed the opportunity, and KC was a lot of fun. He was always full of luster and hype and all of that. It was fun to deal with him, and Dave was a great gentleman. I enjoy our association with them. It's close by, it is a big rival game. It always has been here with Villanova and Delaware. Just the fact that two schools 40 miles away can hook up, and usually we're both pretty good. My hope was that we would always take the game into the last game of the year and decide the championship, so that's what I've always looked at for this game.

On what he sees from Delaware: I've watched the games prior to Dave leaving to now. They played hard for Dave, and they're playing hard for Dennis as well. I think that the Delaware kids are football kids. They come to play. I'm impressed with them. They've given everybody a run, and I feel now that they're just about as good as anyone we've played, especially in the situation that we're in, where we have to win this game to be a playoff team. I think they're going to line up and try to stop that.

On if his team has moved on from the JMU game and the keys to the game against Delaware: I think that I have and our coaching staff has, but we haven't seen them today. We don't practice on Monday. I'm hoping that they forget about it and move on. That's our job to make sure they do that. They have three terrific running backs. I think they're going to come out and try to run the ball on us, which is somewhat of our strength. I think they'll mix it up a little bit as well, so we really have to keep an eye on Wes Hills and some of the backs that they have, because they are really big game players. They're defense is a lot better than what people think it is. We came off the JMU game offensively, and they're probably ready to do the same thing that JMU did. We're probably going to get a nasty pass rush for sure. We've got to find a way to run the football.

On Villanova's recent success against Delaware: That's a good question, and I really don't have the answer to that. It's one of those games that can go either way from time-to-time. Tubby had a run where he beat us five years in a row, and we had a run where we beat him five years in a row. It's just a rival game. It's one of those things that you can't predict. We've been lucky, honestly. To win this game, you have to be lucky. Let's just say that we've been lucky and leave it at that.

On the portrait of him and Tubby Raymond that Raymond created: Tubby is an icon, not only in our league but around the country as a great coach, tremendous gentleman and a first-class guy. He's one of those guys that you have to have incredible respect for. He's always intelligent, always witty, a funny guy, and he's teams were always great. I think the rivalry and the most important thing that he put on that portrait of the both us together is 'always in combat, always friends'. That's something that I've tried to do with every coach in our league. We're going to be adversarial for game day, but after that we're friends. We're going to move on, and we're in the same profession, and Tubby and I did that. I think that it's important for all new coaches in the league to understand that. We all know that it's a tough business, and we work hard at it. We're also friends too. Our rivalry was wonderful, but we always stayed friends.