A week after falling to powerhouse William & Mary at home, it doesn't get any easier for the Villanova Wildcats as they head north to face the #6 ranked New Hampshire Wildcats. Villanova's lone win on the season came over Penn at Franklin Field, but since that win a young team has started to look more cohesive and gave the Tribe all the could handle last week.

New Hampshire is 3-1 on the season (1-0, CAA) with their lone loss coming on opening weekend at Toledo. Last season, New Hampshire took the tilt 31-24 in Villanova Stadium in a thrilling game. However, the teams aren't as evenly matched this year and NH looks to be the heavy favorite.

After The Jump, we'll take a more in-depth look at New Hampshire's key players on both sides of the ball.

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UPDATE (12:30 p.m. ET): Adam Schefter twat that the Colts have placed Ben Ijalana on IR, effectively ending his season.

Original Post:

Former Villanova Wildcats offensive tackle Ben Ijalana has done some damage to the ACL in his left knee, according to a source to the Indianapolis Star. Ijalana was pressed into action last night for the Indianapolis Colts when Anthony Costanzo left the game with an injury to his left ankle.

No formal announcement has been made regarding Ijalana's injury, but it is feared that he could miss the remainder of the 2011 NFL season.

Ijalana was drafted with the 49th overall pick (2nd round) by the Colts in the 2011 NFL draft.

For more on Ben Ijalana's injury, check out our brothers at Stampede Blue.

Two of the most tenured coaches in the FCS will meet this weekend at Villanova Stadium as Andy Talley (27th season at the helm) and Jimmy Laycock (32nd season) face-off in a CAA matchup. The game starts at 12:00 p.m. ET and will actually be shown on TV! Saturday afternoon's game will be televised live by the Comcast Network and will also air on Comcast SportsNet New England and on Cox 11 in the Tidewater area.

William & Mary has quickly become an FCS power in recent years - Villanova was able to upset them in the FCS semi-finals en route to the national championship in 2009 but didn't fare as well last year, falling 31-24 away.

The Tribe were expected to be one of the very best the FCS had to offer this season, but have gotten off to a rather slow start (2-2) including a loss to James Madison last weekend.

Join me after The Jump for more on the Tribe.

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Bryan Osei, who committed to Villanova in mid-August, has now decommitted and has given his verbal commitment to Steve Addazio and the Temple Owls. Osei is a defensive end from Abington, PA and was the 10th commitment to Villanova at the time, and will surely be a loss for Andy Talley.

"I reevaluated things," Osei told (Inquirer reporter Rick) O'Brien. "I like that Temple's football program is on the rise and on the verge of doing big things. Also, it turns out that the school has a higher educational ranking for psychology [his intended major]."

Osei becomes the 25th commitment in Temple's 2012 recruiting class.

Villanova Wildcats freshman linebacker Dillon Lucas has been named to the Jerry Rice Award Watch List, given annually to the most outstanding freshman player in the FCS. 2011 will be the first year the award has been given out, and you can read more about the award here.

Lucas has been a standout performer in an otherwise below-average LB corps for 'Nova. He's recorded 36 tackles (21 solo) in Villanova's 1-3 start to the 2011 campaign. He has recorded at least 8 tackles in all games thus far.

Lucas is one of 15 players on the watch list.

Yes, that's right folks! We actually have a football game this weekend. Now, you may have forgotten about the Villanova football team through this entire Big East expansion mess the past week, but rest assured, despite their 0-3 start and a slightly confirmed report of me trying to black them out of my memory, they will take the field this weekend.

'Nova travels to downtown Philadelphia to face Pennsylvania in The Schuykill Showdown - seriously, there's a name for this game? The Quakers haven't beaten Villanova in God knows how long (actually, it's been 99 years - not kidding), but if there was ever a time to spring the upset, it's this year since Villanova apparently has a completely incapable offense one year removed from having one of the most feared rushing attacks in football.

Join me after The Jump as we take a closer look at Penn while trying to convince ourselves that we will win a game this year.

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Coming off an opening day loss at Temple, and another loss at Towson, the Villanova Wildcats will finally try and get off the snide and earn their first 'W' of the season this Saturday when they host Monmouth for the first time ever on Parents' Weekend.

After a open date last week, Monmouth will look to rebound from a season-opening 49-24 loss at LeHigh. Perhaps lucky for them, they'll get to face a true freshman QB in Chris Polony, who was named the starter after Dustin Thomas was lost with a separated left shoulder (perhaps for the season).

Polony was a highly-touted recruit out of high school, but even at the FCS level it's hard to imagine him stepping into the starter's shoes and finding immediate success. He'll have to rely heavily on his running game and his defense now that Joe Price has joined Norman White in the WR walking-wounded brigade.

After The Jump, we'll talk more about what Monmouth has to offer on both sides of the ball and who should win when 'Nova meets the Hawks on Saturday.

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True freshman Chris Polony will start at quarterback for Villanova in their home opener against Monmouth on Saturday, Andy Talley announced earlier today. Polony will step in for the injured Dustin Thomas, who sustained a shoulder injury over the weekend against Townsend.

Despite Polony being the more green choice over senior Christian Culicerto (who filled in when Thomas left the game on Saturday), Talley believes that he's serving the greater good by getting Polony some much-needed experience.

"We prepared Chris (Polony) as the backup, but decided to go with Christian to maintain his redshirt," Talley said. "With Christian being a senior and Chris a true freshman, it makes sense to get the young guy ready for the future. Christian did a great job, but we need to groom the young guy."

So much for the redshirt - but I do agree with Talley, Polony is part of the future, any game experience he can gain now great for the future, even if it does burn a redshirt.

Polony's classmate John Robertson didn't appear to get much consideration in this debate. So what does 'Nova Nation think? Is Polony the right call now or should the more experienced Culicerto have gotten the nod to try and get 'Nova in the win column? And what about John Robertson?