Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - While the Villanova basketball team worked out Friday in Detroit for the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four, another Wildcat team concluded its spring preparations for what it hopes is an NCAA championship next fall.

The Andy Talley-coached Villanova football team has played in the shadow of the successful and popular Wildcat men's basketball program since the school resumed football in 1985.

Talley reminisced on Tuesday about being invited to the Final Four as part of the official Villanova travel party in 1985, the last time the Wildcats were part of the NCAA's big party.

Talley was in the audience in Lexington, KY. when Villanova pulled off one of the most stunning upsets in NCAA championship-game history, knocking off defending champion Georgetown, 66-64.

Talley will be in Detroit again this weekend as the underdog Wildcats try to pull off a similar upset against North Carolina on Saturday night, with Connecticut and Michigan State looming on the horizon should Villanova reach another championship game.

But while Talley bleeds Villanova blue and white, the only piece missing from his coaching legacy is a trip to an NCAA Division I Football Championship game and a national title of his very own.

The Wildcats were the top seed in that football tournament back in 1997, winning 12 straight games behind a powerful offense led by Walter Payton Award winner Brian Finneran, quarterback Chris Boden and a young running back named Brian Westbrook.

But Villanova dropped a heartbreaking 37-34 decision to eventual champion Youngstown State in the quarterfinals.

In 2002, the Wildcats needed a final-drive comeback led by diminutive, but scrappy quarterback Brett Gordon to beat Delaware, 38-34, on the road just to reach the playoffs.

Gordon, the runner-up to Eastern Illinois quarterback Tony Romo for the Payton Award that year, broke his thumb in a quarterfinal win over Fordham, but had the Wildcats in position to knock off McNeese State in Lake Charles, LA and advance to that elusive title game before a pair of horrendous officiating calls turned the tide and allowed the Cowboys to escape with a 39-28 win.

Last season, Villanova may have well gotten over the title-game hump had it not been for a pair of tough losses to James Madison - both defeats coming on JMU's final drives, and one on a final-play Hail Mary touchdown pass.

But Talley, his staff and team are confident they will have another shot in 2009. With nearly his entire offense coming back and 17 starters returning altogether, Talley's squad should receive its highest preseason ranking ever when The My Sportsbook announces its top-25 poll in August, and the Wildcats will likely be favorites to win the Colonial Athletic Association title.

Considering that a CAA squad has reached the NCAA championship game in five of the past six years, that promise bodes well for Villanova in 2009.

The Wildcats are so deep at quarterback than Antwon Young, a quarterback who was considered for the Payton Award preseason watch list last fall, is a backup to gritty junior Chris Whitney.

Running back Aaron Ball, multi-purpose performer Matt Szczur and wide receiver Brandyn Harvey are among the other playmakers on offense. And don't forget a veteran offensive line, led by NFL prospect Ben Ijalana at tackle.

The defense, which features a potential Buchanan Award candidate in Tim Kukucka and athletic competitors like defensive tackle Phil Matusz, linebacker Osayi Osunde and safeties John Dempsey and Martel Moody, is also a big-play unit.

Such lofty expectations don't necessarily translate into more attention from local fans or media, however.

Philadelphia Inquirer sports columnist Frank Fitzpatrick focused this week on how unusual it is for a team that sponsors a Football Championship Subdivision team to reach a Final Four in basketball. Fitzpatrick pointed out that only five of the past 40 Final Four teams had not fielded FBS-level squads.

The emphasis of the column was how much of a drain the football program has been on Villanova athletics, with no mention of how successful Talley's team has been. But then, the Wildcat football squad is grateful for any attention it receives in a Philadelphia market that is geared to the likes of the Eagles, Phillies and Flyers.

Villanova football draws less than half the crowd that Wildcat basketball does and the 12,000-seat capacity of Villanova Stadium won't change that any time soon.

Meanwhile, when Scotty Reynolds lifted Villanova into the Final Four with his last-second driving lay-up last Saturday night, the celebration that ensued near the Wildcat campus closed down Lancaster Avenue.

You have to wonder what the reaction would be in Philadelphia and its suburbs if Villanova were to win a national championship in football.

Talley and the Wildcats hope to find out this fall.