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Villanova QB said Beaver Stadium crowd wasn’t that intimidating

The Villanova Wildcats left Beaver Stadium on the wrong end of a 38-17 final against Penn State in Week 4, but you won’t find anyone in the Villanova locker room suggesting the crowd was a factor. In fact, one player even suggested a bunch of leaf blowers were noisier than the Penn State fans in Week 4.

For some proper context, it is important to understand the background story to this comment. All week during Villanova’s practices leading up to their road trip to Happy Valley, the Wildcats practiced with staff members walking the practice field with leaf blowers. The idea was to prepare Villanova for the increased decibels they were sure to encounter in Beaver Stadium. For a program that plays in front of no more than 25,000 most weeks, that’s not a bad strategy.

Did it work? Only Villanova players can tell you for sure. And Villanova quarterback Daniel Smith wasn’t shy about suggesting the leaf blowers in practices had more of an impact on the players than the crowd assembled inside Beaver Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

That would be two consecutive opponents who traveled to Beaver Stadium or a game leaving with no complaints about the crowd noise. Of course, both of those teams also left with losses to lament.

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