Villanova takes a page out of Eagles playbook, greases its poles for National Championship

The Crisco is out in full force on Villanova’s campus as the Wildcats take on the Michigan Wolverines in the National Championship Game and fans stand by to climb high.

Officials at Villanova’s campus in Pennsylvania were clearly paying attention when the city of Philadelphia greased its light poles with Crisco ahead of the Eagles’ appearance in Super Bowl LII to prevent revelers from climbing them.

It didn’t necessarily work in Philly, as you might remember:

But Villanova, which is located a mere 17 miles from downtown Philadelphia, is giving it the ol’ college try and outfitting its traffic poles with the same treatment ahead of the conclusion of this year’s National Championship Game:

The Philadelphia police, who by now must have this kind of thing down to a science, have been called out to tend to the poles, as well, per Philly.com. However, unlike with the Eagles, efforts are largely being concentrated around Nova’s campus in Radnor.

Maybe the celebration will be tamer than Villanova officials are expecting. After all, Eagles fans were losing their minds because their team won its first ever championship. The Wildcats, on the other hand, have been here before — and as recently as 2016.

But officials have long memories, and the fans definitely took their excitement to new heights — literally — two years ago:

As for the provenance of the slippery substance, we don’t actually know for sure that it’s Crisco. “I don’t know what they’re using but some poor guy from Villanova has to smear it all over the place,” said Radnor Police Lt. Chris Flanagan, per Philly.com.

Flanagan, coolest policeman ever, also said that officials want Villanova fans “to party like champions,” as long as they use common sense.

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We’ll see how many greasy light poles get ascended by the end of the night before we weigh in on whether Wildcats fans heeded Flanagan’s words.