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Game Notes: Villanova | Pittsburgh | CAA Football
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VILLANOVA, Pa. - Two schools who were once fierce BIG EAST rivals of each other will meet for just the third time on the gridiron when No. 23 Villanova (0-0) visits Pittsburgh (0-0) on Saturday afternoon at Heinz Field in the season opener for both teams. A bus ride across the state awaits the Wildcats, who begin the year by playing an FBS opponent for the 12th straight season. This will also be the third time in the last four years that Villanova faces an ACC opponent in its first game.

There are plenty of ways for fans to watch and listen to Saturday afternoon's contest. The game will be broadcast live by ACC Network Extra and can be seen on ESPN3 and the WatchESPB mobile app by customers whose cable providers offer WatchESPN. The game will also air live on the Wildcats flagship radio station, 610 Sports WTEL-AM, and that broadcast can also be accessed online at Villanova.com with a Nova Nation All-Access package. Additional outlets for the game are on SiriusXM Radio (Sirius Channel 106, XM Channel 94, Internet Channel 956) and on the TuneIn mobile app.

A great deal of excitement surrounds Villanova as it prepares to open its 118th season of football. The team is ranked No. 23 in the nation by both FCS national polls and has the talent to be a CAA Football contender in head coach Andy Talley's final year on the sidelines. Talley, in his 32nd season with the Wildcats and the winningest active head coach in either FBS or FCS football with 249 career victories, has announced his retirement effective at the end of the season and will be succeeded by longtime assistant head coach Mark Ferrante in 2017.

Talley will field a 2016 squad that features a mix of returning stars and players who are on the rise. Senior defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon (Ambler, Pa.) earned STATS FCS Preseason All-America honors and headlines four returning players on defense who were CAA Football All-Conference performers last season. Senior linebacker Austin Calitro (Danbury, Conn.), junior cornerback Malik Reaves (Jacksonville, Fla.) and senior corner Jason Ceneus (New Rochelle, N.Y.) are also back and help to form what is expected to be a strong Villanova defense.

"We have a lot of speed on defense, probably as fast a defense as we've had here," Talley said during a weekly CAA Football conference call on Monday morning. "Last year we gave up about 18 points a game and I am hoping we can be somewhere in that category again. Tanoh is a guy that all the pro guys are looking at and Austin is one of the better linebackers in the league. Those are the two guys that I like a lot on defense."

On the offensive side of the ball, sophomore Zach Bednarczyk (Wallington, N.J.) enters his first full season as a starting quarterback after being thrust into emergency duty a year ago. He made his collegiate debut in the third game of the 2015 season and wound up going 4-4 as the starter in the final eight games of the season. Senior running back Javon White (Telford, Pa.) will be back in action after missing the final four games last year with an injury.

"I like [Zach] a lot," Talley said. "He's probably going to be one of the better quarterbacks in the CAA. He's got a great arm and he can run. Everyone is really going to like him. He is a very good quarterback and can get you out of trouble when the protection breaks down. Javon is a big, fast kid, a game-breaker. He will be excellent for us."

The more recent of the two previous meetings between the Wildcats and the Panthers was a memorable one. Pittsburgh won the game, 48-41, but Villanova legend Brian Westbrook had a coming-out party in the contest and racked up 428 all-purpose yards in the game. That mark is still the ninth-highest single-game total in FCS history. The first-ever meeting between the two teams came more than a century ago, as the Panthers tallied a 12-0 victory in 1911. That game was played at Forbes Field, while the 1998 contest took place at Pitt Stadium. Heinz Field will be the third venue in the three-game all-time series.

Pittsburgh is coming off a 2015 season in which it tallied an 8-5 overall record and went 6-2 in the ACC before falling to Navy, 44-28, in the Military Bowl in Annapolis. There are 18 returning starters from that team and the Panthers were picked to finish third in the ACC Coastal Division behind North Carolina and Miami this year.

Following their season opener, the Wildcats will not have a long road trip again until the start of October. Villanova plays its home opener against Lehigh on September 10 and hosts Towson on September 17 in its first league game of the season. Those games will be followed by a short trip to Lafayette on September 24.