Football returns from the bye week and visits Maine for Saturday afternoon’s clash

ORONO, Maine—Fresh from a bye week that fell right in the middle of the season, No. 5 Villanova (5-1, 2-0 CAA Football) returns to action on Saturday afternoon with a trip to Maine (3-3, 1-2 CAA) for one Kickoff at 1 p.m. at Alfond Stadium in Orono. Recent history is on the side of the Wildcats, who have won 18 of their last 24 games following a bye. Saturday’s game will be broadcast live on FloFootball, while radio will be broadcast on the Villanova Sports Radio Network Ryan Fannon And Steve Pinone The easiest way to access it is with the iHeart Radio mobile app.

Villanova traveled to Maine on Friday afternoon and will begin the second half of its regular season schedule with a 5-1 record and back-to-back wins since its only loss of the year to FBS and Big Ten foe Maryland on Sept. 21 in their last Game, the Wildcats rallied in the second half for a 42-24 win at Stony Brook featuring the rookie running back David Avit (Potomac, Maryland) set a Villanova freshman record with 183 rushing yards and four touchdowns.

There were great performances on both sides of the ball in Stony Brook’s win, as all three of the Wildcats’ starting linebackers recorded double-digit tackles. Fifth year Brendan Bell (Basking Ridge, NJ) He had a career-high 15 total stops, including 10 tackles in the first half alone. Fellow graduate students Ethan Potter (Chesapeake City, Maryland) And Richie Kimmel (Holmes, Pennsylvania) had 11 and 10 tackles, respectively, in the win.

Villanova leads the all-time series against the Black Bears by a 15-10 margin and has won the last three meetings by an average of 22.7 points per game. Since the Wildcats joined the then-Yankee Conference in 1988, the teams have competed against each other frequently, and all 25 meetings in the series have been regular season conference contests.

Saturday’s game will be the second consecutive meeting between the two teams in Orono, where Villanova last visited in 2022 and posted a 45-20 victory. Wildcats head coach Mark Ferrante is 4-1 against Maine as head coach. The only loss came in 2018, when Maine hit a 52-yard field goal as time expired for a 13-10 win. This game remains the last time Villanova suffered a walk-off loss.

Villanova has posted a winning record against FCS competition in nine of the last 11 seasons (2014-24) and is 33-18 (.647) overall on the road against FCS opponents during that span. In recent play, the Wildcats have won six of their last eight road games at FCS venues, a trend that already includes wins at Colgate (28-3) and Stony Brook (42-24) this year.

One of the factors to keep an eye on this week will be how Villanova performs in turnover margin. In their first six games of the season, the Wildcats posted a plus-seven turnover margin, which ranks second in CAA football and ninth nationally. Villanova has only turned the ball over three times and has forced 10 errors on its opponents so far this season. Fifth-year linebacker Timmy Furgeson has recovered muffed punts from opponents in each of the last two games against LIU and Stony Brook. He is one of only four CAA football players and 25 athletes in the country with two or more fumble recoveries on the year.

The turnover trend has been particularly encouraging for the Wildcats after the team recorded at least one turnover in all 13 games played last year. Villanova has played turnover-free football in four of its six games in 2024. The game against Maryland on September 21 marked the first time the Wildcats had no turnovers against an FBS opponent since 2014 against Syracuse (over 10 games). It was also the first time since a win over Temple in 2018 that Villanova emerged from an FBS matchup with a positive turnover margin for the day.

Another area to watch on Saturday will be the great potential of the Villanova offense. In the Stony Brook game two weeks ago, the Wildcats had nine plays from scrimmage of 20 yards or longer. Four of those plays resulted in touchdowns, including scores by Avit on runs of 72 yards and 59 yards. Sophomore running back Ja’briel Mace (Somers Point, NJ) scored his first college touchdown on a 21-yard run and was a fifth-year wide receiver Lucas Kopecky (Rocky Hill, NJ) hauled in a 26-yard catch for a touchdown. Villanova has completed 40 plays of more than 20 yards this season, 28 of which (15 pass plays, 13 run plays) came from the line of scrimmage. There are 11 different players on the Wildcats’ roster who have recorded a rush or reception of 20 yards or more.

After this week’s trip to Maine, Villanova looks forward to its homecoming weekend game against New Hampshire next Saturday (October 26) at 3:30 p.m. It will be the Wildcats’ first home game since a win over LIU on Sept. 28 (24-10). .