VILLANOVA, Pa.—Already selected as the CAA Football preseason favorite in a poll of league head coaches, national honors came in for Villanova on Monday morning as the Wildcats came in at No. 6 in the 2024 Stats Perform FCS Preseason Top 25 Poll. Villanova led a group of four CAA teams who appeared in the first national rankings entering the 2024 season.
 
Excitement is high for a Wildcats team which went 10-3 last year while earning a share of the CAA Football title and the league's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs. A battle-tested team advanced to the quarterfinal round of the playoffs and this year's Villanova squad has five starters on each side of the ball returning from the 2023 team. The new season begins on August 29 when the Wildcats host Youngstown State in a Thursday night season opener.
 
Villanova earned 1,151 points in the Stats Perform FCS Preseason Top 25 and finished just four points out of a top-five ranking. In the same poll of CAA Football head coaches that predicted the Wildcats as the preseason league favorite, sixth year quarterback Connor Watkins was chosen as the CAA Football Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. Villanova had a league-high six players named to the league's Preseason All-Conference Team.
 
Watkins and fifth year cornerback Isas Waxter have already garnered national buzz this preseason by being named to the watch lists for the Walter Payton Award and the Buck Buchanan Award, respectively. Waxter and senior linebacker Shane Hartzell each appeared on last week's Stats Perform FCS Preseason All-America list, with Waxter named to the second team and Hartzell earning third team accolades.
 
This year's season opener will somewhat ironically be a rematch of last year's second round playoff game when the Wildcats and Youngstown State met at Villanova Stadium. The teams had not played each other since 1999 and Villanova tallied its third win in the all-time series with a 45-28 victory to begin its 2023 playoff run. The sides will now face each other for a second straight season in a top-25 showdown. Monday's preseason national poll has the Penguins at No. 25.
 
Elsewhere in CAA Football, three league teams appeared in a span of four spots in the middle of the poll. Richmond came in at No. 13, followed by William & Mary (No. 15) and UAlbany (No. 16). Elon was the top team receiving votes outside of the Top 25.