ELON, N.C.—Graduate student quarterback Daniel Smith (Leesburg, Va.) was responsible for all five touchdowns in the game and No. 10 Villanova (7-2, 5-1 CAA Football) posted its second shutout in the last three games with a 35-0 victory over Elon (4-5, 3-3 CAA Football) at Rhodes Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Smith scored two rushing touchdowns and threw three touchdown passes as the Wildcats amassed 426 yards of offense and scored in all four quarters in just their third all-time meeting with the Phoenix. This year marks the first time Villanova has ever shut out two CAA opponents in a single season. The Wildcats also tallied a 45-0 win over Rhode Island on October 23.
 
Villanova forced two turnovers in the first five minutes of the game – an interception on Elon's first offensive snap of the contest and a fumble recovery on a Wildcats punt less than 90 seconds later – to set the tone for a dominant effort on both sides of the ball. After the Villanova defense spent more than 39 minutes on the field in a loss to William & Mary last week, the tables turned in a strong bounce back game and the Wildcats kept their offense on the field for a season-high 40:23. Villanova ran 72 offensive plays compared to 46 by the Phoenix and outgained their hosts by a margin of 426-163.
 
Smith finished the day 16-of-23 for 238 yards and three touchdowns to go along with eight carries for 45 yards and the two scores. Senior running back Jalen Jackson (Richmond, Va.) led a three-headed ground game with a career-high 21 carries for 75 yards. He surpassed 1,000 career rushing yards during the contest and scored the first points of the game on a 10-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter. Junior running back DeeWil Barlee (Upper Darby, Pa.) ran 18 times for 62 yards.
 
Junior wide receiver Jaaron Hayek (Wayne, N.J.) and graduate student tight end Todd Summers (Murrysville, Pa.) each caught touchdown passes to help fuel the offense. Hayek hauled in a 48-yard touchdown pass with 7:47 left in the second quarter which forged a 14-0 lead and Summers capped the scoring for the day with an 11-yard pass for a score with just under two minutes to play in the game. Hayek had three catches for 82 yards and the long touchdown reception while junior wide receiver Rayjoun Pringle (Dumfries, Va.) caught seven passes for 105 yards. It was the third 100-yard receiving game of the season and fourth of Pringle's career.
 
The best way to sum up the Wildcats defensive effort was the job Villanova did containing Elon quarterback Davis Cheek, who began the day leading CAA Football with 2,245 passing yards and an average of 25.1 completions per game. Cheek was just 13-of-28 through the air for 146 yards with an interception and was sacked two times for a total loss of 15 yards. No individual receiver had more than 43 yards on the day and the Phoenix also managed just 17 net rushing yards. The ability to stop the run was more of the norm for the Wildcats defense, which had allowed an average of just 68.5 rushing yards per game through its first six contest before giving up a combined 365 yards on the ground to Rhode Island and William & Mary in the past two weeks.
 
Elon's offense took the field for the first time at its own 27-yard line with 11:48 left in the first quarter. Cheek looked left to Kortez Weeks but his pass was intercepted by graduate student cornerback Denzel Williams (Rocky Point, N.Y.) who returned the ball 16 yards to the Phoenix' 41-yard line. Villanova eventually punted for the second straight offensive series, but a 26-yard punt into the wind by senior punter Nathan Fondacaro (Sewell, N.J.) was muffed by Weeks and recovered by graduate student linebacker Forrest Rhyne (Waynesboro, Pa.) at Elon's 29-yard line.
 
The second forced turnover led to the first points of the game five plays later when Smith connected with Jackson for a 10-yard touchdown pass. By the time the first quarter ended the Wildcats had held the ball for more than 11 minutes and owned an advantage of 83-15 in yards of offense. The margin was even more drastic in the second quarter as Villanova outgained the Phoenix by a margin of 156-17 and stretched the lead to 21-0 at halftime.
 
One of the key moments in the game came as time expired just before halftime with the Wildcats leading 14-0 and Elon set to receive the opening kickoff of the second half. Villanova had started a drive with 5:27 left in the second quarter and went 79 yards on nine plays to close the half. Smith threw a 26-yard pass to Pringle which set up first-and-goal from the 10-yard line, but on third-and-goal from the four-yard line Smith gained just two yards on a keeper and the Wildcats called timeout with one second to play in the half. Following the stoppage, Smith kept the ball again and dove forward while extending his arm out and landing the ball just across the goal line for the touchdown.
 
Graduate student defensive lineman Malik Fisher (New York, N.Y.) and freshman lineman Bryce Ganious (Houston, Texas) each had sacks in the game and redshirt freshman safety Ty Trinh (Owings Mills, Md.) had a team-high five tackles. Rhyne was credited with two tackles, a quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery as he made a significant impact even on a day when the defense was only on the field for a limited number of snaps.
 
The only other season in its FCS tenure (since 1985) in which Villanova had two shutouts in a season was in 2017 when the Wildcats tallied wins over Lafayette (59-0) and Maine (31-0). This is the first time that Villanova has ever shut out two conference opponents in the same year.
 
Two regular season games remain for the Wildcats, who will return home next weekend for a 1 p.m. game against Stony Brook (4-5, 2-4 CAA Football).