VILLANOVA, Pa.—Fresh off an overtime thriller and riding its best start in 10 years, No. 8 Villanova (4-0, 1-0 CAA Football) returns home on Family Weekend to host No. 12 Maine (2-2, 0-1 CAA) presented by Rothman Orthopaedics on Saturday afternoon.  Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. at Villanova Stadium and the game will air live on FloFootball and 610 ESPN.  The 2019 Villanova Football season is presented by Independence Blue Cross.
 
Fans can watch Saturday's game on FloFootball across all screens by downloading the FloSports app on iOS, Roku or Apple TV 4.  Special pricing is available for CAA Football fans by visiting flosports.tv/caa, and becoming a PRO subscriber allows fans to access live and on-demand coverage of exclusive content and games.  John Fanta and Steve Pinone will be in the booth for the FloFootball broadcast, while Ryan Fannon and Kevin Reilly call the action on 610 ESPN.  The radio broadcast can also be heard online via TuneIn.  Live stats and other pertinent game information can be found in the links at the top of this release.
 
Villanova will be playing in a battle of nationally-ranked teams for the second straight week after a 52-45 overtime win at then-No. 5 Towson last week.  That victory, which came in the highest-scoring game the Wildcats had been a part of in 19 years, vaulted Villanova 10 spots in this week's STATS FCS Top 25 poll.  Now comes another test against the Black Bears, who are coming off a road win of their own at Colgate. 
 
Junior quarterback Daniel Smith (Leesburg, Va.) and junior running back Justin Covington (Bronx, N.Y.) have been the catalysts for a high-powered Wildcats offense this season.  Smith was named the CAA Football Offensive Player of the Week and garnered STATS FCS honorable mention recognition earlier this week after he accounted for six of Villanova's seven touchdowns in the Towson win.  Smith threw for 279 yards and four touchdowns while also rushing for 70 yards and two scores, part of another dominant ground performance by the Wildcats.  Covington established new career highs for the second time this season with 27 carries for 194 yards, including his third straight game with a run of exactly 64 yards.
 
After being a backup in the Villanova running back rotation his first two years, Covington has broken out in a big way in 2019.  He has tallied the first four 100-yard rushing games of his career and is ranked fourth in the FCS with 556 yards on the year.  That figure, along with his average of 9.1 yards per carry, both lead the CAA.  He is the Wildcats first player with four straight 100-yard rushing games since quarterback John Robertson in 2014.  On a similar note, Smith is also the first Villanova quarterback to throw for at least three touchdowns in four consecutive games since Robertson, also in 2014. 
 
Villanova leads CAA Football through its first four games of the season with 42.2 points per game and 255.8 rushing yards per contest, while ranking second in the league in first downs (88) and third in total offense (450.8).  The balance on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball has been critical to the Wildcats success, however.  One comparison: Villanova is one of 14 teams in the FCS to have scored on 100 percent of its chances in the red zone (14-14), while the defense is leading the CAA and ranked 10^th nationally holding opponents to scoring on just 64 percent (9-14) of its red zone possessions. 
 
Junior linebackers Forrest Rhyne (Waynesboro, Pa.) and Amin Black (Philadelphia, Pa.) have been the Wildcats top two tacklers in 2019, with Rhyne leading the way with 31 total stops and Black making 26 tackles.  Another leading performer for the team has been junior defensive lineman Malik Fisher (New York, N.Y.), who has a CAA-best 4.5 sacks and is ranked in the top-12 nationally in both sacks and forced fumbles.  Fisher has recorded at least one sack in each of the four games this season and in six of his last seven contests dating back to last year.
 
There were a number of storylines coming out of the Towson win last week, not the least of which was junior kicker Drew Kresge (Douglassville, Pa.) forcing overtime with a 45-yard field goal 10 seconds before the end of regulation which tied the score at 45-all.  It was the fifth career field goal of 40 yards or longer for Kresge and first time Villanova tied or took the lead on a field goal in the final minute of regulation since the final day of the 2013 season.  Kresge is 3-of-4 on field goal attempts and 22-of-23 on PATs this season. 
 
Maine's last two games have been against common opponents with the Wildcats, as the Black Bears fell at home to Towson (45-23) on September 14 before tallying a 35-21 win at Colgate last week.  Junior quarterback Chris Ferguson ranks fourth in the country with 1,275 passing yards to this point in the season, going 82-of-144 through the air with six touchdowns and six interceptions.  His primary targets have been senior receivers Earnest Edwards (15 receptions, 333 yards) and Jaquan Blair (18 receptions, 284 yards), while Edwards is also a top return man who earned national honors this week after returning two kickoffs for touchdowns in the Black Bears win at Colgate. 
 
The series between the Wildcats and Maine dates back to 1988 when the teams became conference opponents.  Villanova holds a narrow 12-10 edge in the series, although a 13-10 loss on a late field goal in Orono last season snapped the Wildcats four-game winning streak in head-to-head matchups.  Saturday's game will be the 12^th meeting in the series at Villanova Stadium, where the Wildcats are 7-4 against Maine.
 
Consecutive road trips to the state of Virginia await Villanova after its Family Weekend game, which is one of just two home contests on the schedule through the first nine weeks of the season.  Villanova will travel to William & Mary next Saturday and James Madison on October 12 before entering its second bye week of the year.  The next home game after Maine will be against Stony Brook on October 26 at 3:30 p.m.