Football team heads to Philadelphia to face Villanova
Chris Smith
Issue date: 10/23/09 Section: Sports
10/23/09 - Searching for their first CAA Conference win of the year, the University of Rhode Island football team heads south to Villanova, Pa. for a Saturday afternoon conference clash with nationally ranked Villanova University.
The Rams are looking to end their five-game losing streak that includes three conference losses. However, this will not be an easy task as Rhode Island will not only be up against a tough 6-1 number four nationally ranked team in Villanova, but a hostile homecoming environment.
"Our focus going down there this week is that this is a business trip," head coach Joe Trainer said. "We're going to go down there to compete and play as well as we can to win the game. That's our goal."
Last season the Wildcats spoiled the Rams' homecoming with a 44-7 blowout victory. Overall, Villanova holds a 13-2 advantage in the schools' 15 meetings. Rhody's last win against the Wildcats came in October of 2005.
Coach Trainer will also be making a homecoming trip: he was an assistant coach at Villanova for eight seasons. During his time there, the Wildcats won two conference championships.
"I'm sure I'll see a lot of familiar faces," Trainer said. "But this isn't going to be a reunion for Joe Trainer. This is going to be the Rhode Island Rams headed south trying to win our first conference game of the year."
The Rams enter the game off of a discouraging 28-16 homecoming loss at the hands of Hofstra University. In that game, junior quarterback Chris Paul-Etienne made his return from injury. He threw for a career high 207 passing yards and also ran for a touchdown. Also contributing with a career high effort was sophomore wide receiver Ty Bynum, who had a career high of six passes for 75 yards. He leads the team in receiving yards with 279.
Villanova heads into this match-up with the top rushing attack in the CAA, averaging 204.6 yards a game. Junior wide receiver Matt Szczur leads the CAA with 1,080 all purpose yards, including 311 rushing yards on the season. Quarterback Chris Whitney leads the team in rushing with 437 yards.
The Rams are looking to end their five-game losing streak that includes three conference losses. However, this will not be an easy task as Rhode Island will not only be up against a tough 6-1 number four nationally ranked team in Villanova, but a hostile homecoming environment.
"Our focus going down there this week is that this is a business trip," head coach Joe Trainer said. "We're going to go down there to compete and play as well as we can to win the game. That's our goal."
Last season the Wildcats spoiled the Rams' homecoming with a 44-7 blowout victory. Overall, Villanova holds a 13-2 advantage in the schools' 15 meetings. Rhody's last win against the Wildcats came in October of 2005.
Coach Trainer will also be making a homecoming trip: he was an assistant coach at Villanova for eight seasons. During his time there, the Wildcats won two conference championships.
"I'm sure I'll see a lot of familiar faces," Trainer said. "But this isn't going to be a reunion for Joe Trainer. This is going to be the Rhode Island Rams headed south trying to win our first conference game of the year."
The Rams enter the game off of a discouraging 28-16 homecoming loss at the hands of Hofstra University. In that game, junior quarterback Chris Paul-Etienne made his return from injury. He threw for a career high 207 passing yards and also ran for a touchdown. Also contributing with a career high effort was sophomore wide receiver Ty Bynum, who had a career high of six passes for 75 yards. He leads the team in receiving yards with 279.
Villanova heads into this match-up with the top rushing attack in the CAA, averaging 204.6 yards a game. Junior wide receiver Matt Szczur leads the CAA with 1,080 all purpose yards, including 311 rushing yards on the season. Quarterback Chris Whitney leads the team in rushing with 437 yards.
Be the first to comment on this story