VILLANOVA, Pa.—Always one of the highlights of the football schedule each year, the annual "Battle of the Blue" rivalry game will conclude the regular season on Saturday afternoon when Villanova (4-6, 1-6 CAA Football) travels to No. 17 Delaware (7-3, 5-2 CAA Football) for a 12 p.m. contest. The game can be seen live on NBC Sports Philadelphia in the local area, as well as on SNY throughout the region. History has been on the side of the Wildcats in the all-time series, and especially of late. Villanova leads the series by a 29-21-1 margin and has won 11 of the last 12 meetings.
There is no opponent that the Wildcats have played more often in their history than the Blue Hens, with the teams first facing each other in 1895 and having met a total of 51 times on the gridiron. The series came to be known as the "Battle of the Blue" in 2007, and Villanova has won 10 of the 11 games and the Battle of the Blue trophy that goes with it since then. Delaware's last win came at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester in the 2011 season finale, while the Blue Hens last win on their own home turf came in 2004.
The scenario for the Wildcats entering Saturday's contest is similar to the team's storyline prior to last year's game. Villanova was also 4-6 going into the Delaware game last year, and also had a record that was indicative of a year interrupted due to injuries to key players. Meanwhile, the Blue Hens entered the 2017 contest and will also go into this Saturday's game with five league wins and a chance to have their resume considered for a postseason playoff berth.
No records can predict what will happen in a rivalry game however, and the Wildcats came out firing on all cylinders last season in what became a 28-7 victory at Villanova Stadium. Current senior running back
Aaron Forbes (Newburgh, N.Y.) rushed for 140 yards in the win, while
Jack Schetelich (Cranbury, N.J.) started under center and had three total touchdowns (two passing, one rushing). The defense was fueled by linebacker
Jeff Steeb (Sweetwater, N.J.), who had a game-high 13 tackles and returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown.
Forbes will be one of the players to watch for the Wildcats in Saturday's game. He has rushed for 237 total yards in his last two games, including a career-high 160-yard effort in the win over Richmond two weeks ago. Forbes has been surging on Villanova's list of career rushing leaders, and currently ranks ninth in school history with 2,166 career rushing yards. He needs just 55 more yards to move all the way up to sole possession of sixth place on the Wildcats all-time leaderboard.
Elsewhere on offense, Villanova was bolstered last week by the returns of senior quarterback
Zach Bednarczyk (Wallington, N.J.) and senior tight end
Ryan Bell (Basking Ridge, N.J.). Bednarczyk had missed three of the previous four games before starting the home finale versus William & Mary, in which he threw for 212 yards and moved into fifth place in school history with 6,256 career passing yards. Bell was back in action after having missed six games and he led the team with seven receptions for 79 yards last week. Along the way, he became the 34
th player in school history to have at least 1,000 career receiving yards.
On the defensive end, the Wildcats and Delaware enter Saturday's game tied for the CAA Football lead with 15 interceptions. Freshman cornerback
Christian Benford (Randallstown, Md.) leads Villanova with five passes intercepted in just eight games, and his 0.625 interceptions per contest lead the CAA and rank fifth in the country. Benford had three interceptions in the Richmond game alone, becoming the Wildcats first player with three in a game since the 2011 season.
Villanova will wrap up the 121
st season of varsity football with Saturday's game.
