UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.—Graduate student quarterback Daniel Smith (Leesburg, Va.) threw a pair of fourth quarter touchdown passes to junior wide receiver Rayjoun Pringle (Dumfries, Va.) and graduate student linebacker Forrest Rhyne (Waynesboro, Pa.) led a strong defensive effort as No. 11 (FCS) Villanova (3-1) lost its first game of the season by a 38-17 score to No. 6 (FBS) Penn State (4-0) at Beaver Stadium on Saturday afternoon. In their annual game against an FBS opponent the Wildcats held the Nittany Lions to 80 rushing yards on 34 carries and recorded eight tackles for loss in front of an announced crowd of 105,790 in the first meeting between the in-state schools in 70 years.
 
Rhyne had a season-high 11 tackles, including eight solo stops, and finished the day with 1.5 sacks among his 2.5 total tackles for loss. Villanova recorded three sacks for a total loss of 16 yards and made five other tackles behind the line of scrimmage against Penn State. Rhyne, freshman defensive lineman Bryce Ganious (Houston, Texas) and senior defensive lineman Jared Nelson (Glastonbury, Conn.) all had at least a partial sack and redshirt freshman defensive back Kshawn Schulters (Roselle, N.J.) had an interception on a tipped pass in the third quarter. Each team committed one turnover as the Wildcats limited their own mistakes while stepping up in level of competition.
 
Senior linebacker Amin Black (Philadelphia, Pa.) and junior Qwahsin Townsel (Egg Harbor Twp., N.J.) also had big games for the Wildcats, with Black making eight total stops (one tackle for loss) and Townsel recording seven tackles.
 
The first Villanova points of the game came with 1:21 left in the first quarter when graduate student Cole Bunce (San Jose, Calif.) kicked a 39-yard field goal. A pair of long touchdown passes of 52 yards by Nittany Lions quarterback Sean Clifford were the only significant plays from either side in the first half and the Wildcats trailed by a within-striking-distance margin of 17-3 at halftime.
 
Penn State received the opening kickoff of the second half and Clifford connected with KeAndre Lambert-Smith on an 83-yard touchdown pass on the second play of that Nittany Lions drive to extend the margin to 24-3. The Nittany Lions added to their lead with touchdowns late in the third quarter and early in the fourth before the Wildcats tallied the game's final 14 points.
 
Smith was 20-of-34 for 222 yards with two touchdowns and an interception on the day. Nearly half of those yards were accounted for by Pringle, who recorded four catches for 107 yards and the two scores. He got away from the defense for a 57-yard touchdown reception at the 9:42 mark of the fourth quarter and later caught a 17-yard pass from Smith for another score with 1:28 to play in the game. It is the second career 100-yard receiving game for Pringle and his first this season.
 
Graduate student tight end Todd Summers (Murrysville, Pa.) had a team-high five receptions for 45 yards on the day. Smith connected with eight different receivers in the contest. Junior wide receiver Jaaron Hayek (Wayne, N.J.) matched Pringle with four catches and finished the game with 26 total yards.
 
One of the noteworthy stat lines for Villanova in the game came from sophomore quarterback Connor Watkins (Williamsport, Pa.) who was called on to handle the punting duties for the Wildcats for the first time in his career. Watkins punted eight times for an average of 34.6 yards per punt, with four of those punts being fair caught.
 
The attendance of 105,790 marks the first time Villanova has ever played in front of a crowd of more than 100,000 fans. The previous largest attendance for a Wildcats game was 97,803 in a home game against Georgia at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium on September 19, 1953. The largest previous road attendance Villanova played in front of was 60,566 at West Virginia's Milan Puskar Stadium on August 30, 2008.
 
Saturday's game against Penn State was also the final regular season non-conference game of the year for the Wildcats, who have seven games remaining on the CAA schedule. Villanova has a bye next weekend and returns to action with a road game at James Madison on October 9 at 2 p.m.