VILLANOVA, Pa.—In the penultimate game of the regular season this weekend, No. 9/8 Villanova (8-2, 5-1 CAA Football) travels to Monmouth (4-6, 2-4 CAA Football) for a 12 p.m. kickoff on Saturday afternoon. The game can be seen locally on NBS Sports Philadelphia+ as well as on FloFootball. The radio broadcast can be heard on the Villanova Sports Radio Network which is most easily found on the iHeart radio mobile app.
 
Saturday's matchup will be the first trip to Kessler Stadium for the Wildcats, who have faced the Hawks on just two previous occasions in 2011 and 2022. Monmouth won each of those contests at Villanova Stadium, the latter a 49-42 decision in the Hawks first year as a CAA Football member. Since that contest, Villanova has gone on to win its last 14 consecutive home games. This week marks the Wildcats third straight game against one of the newer teams to the league. The stretch started with Villanova making its first ever trip to Hampton on November 2, followed by North Carolina A&T coming to the Main Line for the first time last week.
 
The top defense and offense in CAA Football will square off on Saturday, with the Wildcats ranking fifth in the country with an average of just 15.7 points allowed per game and the Hawks leading the league in scoring at 37.3 points per contest. Villanova's stout defense has been particularly impressive during a current three-game winning streak against New Hampshire, Hampton and North Carolina A&T. In the three games, the Wildcats have given up a total of just 662 yards while allowing only 39 first downs, 23 points and two touchdowns.
 
Villanova ranks in the top 25 nationally in seven different defensive categories on the year. In addition to being fifth in scoring defense, the Wildcats are currently fifth in red zone defense, ninth in passing yards allowed, 12^th in total defense, 14^th in third down conversion defense, 16^th in passing efficiency defense and 21^st in first downs allowed.
 
On the other side of the ball, Villanova will face a Monmouth squad which has topped 30 points in six of its 10 games on the year. The Hawks have three common foes with the Wildcats so far this season, with a win over Maine (51-22) who handed Villanova its only conference loss on October 19. Monmouth has lost to two teams (Towson and New Hampshire) who the Wildcats have defeated.
 
Villanova has been successful this season in part because of how the team has played in the second half of games. The Wildcats own a +67 scoring margin after halftime, including a +31 advantage in the third quarter and +36 in the fourth quarter. Over the last five games, Villanova has outscored its opponents by a margin of 35-3 in the fourth quarter.
 
Sixth year quarterback Connor Watkins (Williamsport, Pa.) reached several career milestones in last week's win over North Carolina A&T. Among them, he threw his 400^th career completion and tied a career high with 18 completions for the day. Watkins has been the Wildcats starter under center since the beginning of the 2022 season and he owns a 24-10 (.706) record as the starting quarterback. He moved into seventh place in school history in both career passing yards (6,311) and career total offense (7,438) in last week's game.
 
Following this weekend's game in West Long Branch, N.J., the Wildcats will return home for the regular season finale on November 23 to take on Delaware at 1 p.m.