HARRISONBURG, Va.—A matchup of top-five teams lived up to the billing as No. 5 Villanova (6-1, 3-1 CAA Football) fell in a hard-fought battle at No. 2 James Madison (6-1, 2-1 CAA) in front of a sellout crowd of 25,076 at Bridgeforth Stadium on Saturday afternoon.  Three touchdowns by the Dukes in the fourth quarter, including a go-ahead interception return for a score with 10:48 to play, were the difference in a 38-24 setback as the Wildcats saw their unbeaten start to the season come to an end. 
 
Junior quarterback Daniel Smith (Leesburg, Va.) threw for a career-high 387 yards and three touchdowns on 26-of-47 passing, with a quartet of Villanova receivers accounting for virtually all the team's offense through the air.  Junior wideout Changa Hodge (East Stroudsburg, Va.) had eight catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns, all of which were career highs.  Junior tight end Todd Summers (Murrysville, Pa.) also had a touchdown reception, freshman wide receiver Jaaron Hayek (Wayne, N.J.) had five catches for 86 yards and senior receiver Zac Kerxton (Haymarket, Va.) had four catches for a career-high 95 yards. 
 
A fast start to the second half gave the Wildcats their only lead of the game before the host Dukes rallied in the decisive final period.  Smith threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Summers with 10:18 left in the third quarter to tie the score at 17-17, while a 10-yard touchdown pass to Hodge less than five minutes later gave Villanova a lead against James Madison for the first time in the last five meetings between the longtime conference rivals. 
 
Two big defensive stands late in the third quarter gave the Wildcats added momentum.  Villanova stopped James Madison twice on fourth down in the last two-plus minutes of the period and took over on downs from its own 46-yard line to begin the fourth quarter.  The first play of that drive resulted in a lost fumble however, and James Madison went 39 yards on three plays to tie the game at 24-24 with 13:53 to play. 
 
On the ensuing Wildcats drive, Smith marched the offense deep into Dukes territory but was intercepted at the 17-yard line and the pick was returned 83 yards to give James Madison a 31-24 lead with 10:48 left.  Villanova one again drove deep down the field on its next possession, but missed a 29-yard field goal attempt with 8:34 remaining as the Dukes took over.  A 69-yard touchdown run three plays later put the Wildcats backs against the wall in a two-possession game. 
 
Junior linebacker Forrest Rhyne (Waynesboro, Pa.) led a Villanova defense which was up to the task of containing the nation's sixth-ranked offense for most of the day.  Rhyne had 13 tackles, including three tackles for loss and two sacks, while recording his third double-digit tackle game of the season and his second in as many weeks.  Junior safety Nowoola Awopetu (Staten Island, N.Y.) had nine total stops, sophomore Darryl McDaniel (Washington, D.C.) added a career-high eight tackles after missing the previous four games and senior linebacker Drew Wiley (Pennington, N.J.) also had eight stops. 
 
After the Wildcats were held scoreless in the first quarter and trailed 7-0 at the end of the opening period, Smith threw a 43-yard touchdown pass to Hodge less than a minute into the second quarter to put Villanova on the board.  James Madison answered with a touchdown five minutes later to retake the lead, while both teams kicked field goals in the final 3:14 of the first half to send the game to the intermission with the Dukes ahead by a 17-10 margin.  Villanova got the ball to begin the second half and drove 81 yards on 11 plays to tie the game at 17-17 with 10:18 to play in the third quarter. 
 
One of the storylines of the game in the first half was the home team's third down offense.  James Madison was 8-of-11 on third-down conversions in the first 30 minutes and tallied 101 of its 200 yards of offense on third down before halftime.  A reversal of that trend helped the Wildcats seize momentum in the second half, as the Dukes were just 1-of-5 on third down and 0-of-2 on fourth down in the second half. 
 
James Madison did end up rushing for 158 yards on 37 carries in the game, but even that total was 110 yards below the Dukes average per-game rushing yards entering the day.  Villanova's defense had seven tackles for loss and matched a season-high with four sacks for the second straight game. 
 
A much-deserved bye awaits the Wildcats next week.  Villanova opened the season with a 6-0 record for the first time since 2003, with three of those victories coming against teams ranked in the top-15 of the STATS FCS Top 25 poll at the time of the game.  Saturday's matchup was the first time since the 2009 national championship game that both the Wildcats and their opponent were ranked in the top five of the STATS poll.  Villanova returns to action at home against Stony Brook on September 26 at 3:30 p.m.