VILLANOVA, Pa.—After extending their home winning streak to the longest in program history last weekend, #11 seed Villanova (10-3) will take to the road for the second round of the Division I Football Championship and travel to #6 seed University of the Incarnate Word (10-2) for a 1 p.m. Central time kickoff in San Antonio on Saturday afternoon. It will be the first meeting between the teams who have each been riding a wave of extended success in recent years. Both the Wildcats and the Cardinals are among the six FCS teams who have won 10 or more games in at least three of the last four seasons.
 
Saturday's game will be televised live on ESPN+ from Gayle & Tom Benson Stadium as Villanova travels to the state of Texas for the 12^th time ever and the first time since a playoff game at Stephen F. Austin in 2010. The radio call of Saturday's contest with Ryan Fannon and Steve Pinone can be heard on the Villanova Sports Radio Network which is most easily found on the iHeart radio mobile app. The winner of Saturday's game will advance to the quarterfinal round of the playoffs and face either #3 seed South Dakota State or #14 seed Montana.
 
Villanova rallied for a 22-17 victory over Eastern Kentucky last week and outscored the visiting Colonels by a 13-0 margin in the second half. That was nothing new for the Wildcats, who have a +88 scoring margin after halftime this season and have outscored their last eight opponents by a 67-10 count in the fourth quarter alone. Fifth year kicker Ethan Gettman (Daytona Beach, Fla.) made field goals with 14:37 remaining and exactly one minute to play last week to help Villanova improve to 15-14 all-time in the FCS playoffs. It was the 16^th straight win at Villanova Stadium for the Wildcats in a streak which began midway through the 2022 season and is now longer than a pair of 15-game streaks from 1927 to 1930 and from 2008 to 2010.
 
This week will be the fourth time that Villanova takes on a Southland Conference opponent in the playoffs. The only win in the three previous matchups came in 2010 when the defending national champion Wildcats traveled to Nacogdoches, Texas and tallied a 54-24 victory. The two losses to Southland Conference teams in the playoffs have also been road games, at McNeese in 2002 in Villanova's first ever FCS semifinal game, and at Southeastern Louisiana by a single point (45-44) in the first round of the 2019 playoffs.
 
Not all the Wildcats previous postseason games in Texas have been FCS playoff contests. On December 30, 1961, Villanova posted a 17-9 win over Wichita State in the Sun Bowl played in El Paso. Other wins in the Lone Star State by the Wildcats have come against Texas A&M in 1949 and Houstin in 1951. Villanova is 4-7 overall in its previous trips to the state.
 
This is the 16^th appearance for the Wildcats in the FCS playoffs. Villanova has advanced to the quarterfinal round in three of their last four playoff appearances, most recently last year when the Wildcats defeated Youngstown State to reach a quarterfinal game where Villanova took top-seeded South Dakota State down to the wire in a narrow setback.
 
Villanova is led this season by a defense which ranks first or second in CAA Football and in the top 25 nationally in six different categories. The top ranking for the Wildcats is in red zone defense where they rank third in the country by allowing points on just 66.7 percent of opponents' possessions in the red zone. Villanova also leads CAA Football in punt return defense (5.36 yards per return) and defensive passing efficiency (120.94) while ranking second in the league in scoring defense (18.6), passing yards allowed (170.7 yards per game) and total defense (317.7 yards per game).
 
The defense is led by the linebacker duo of fifth year Brendan Bell (Basking Ridge, N.J.) and senior Shane Hartzell (Perkasie, Pa.) who are the first Villanova teammates since 2014 to each have more than 100 tackles in a season. Hartzell leads the way with 112 total stops and five sacks on the year, while Bell has 111 tackles and a team-high 15 tackles for loss.
 
On the offensive side of the ball, the Wildcats are led by sixth year quarterback Connor Watkins (Williamsport, Pa.) and true freshman running back David Avit (Potomac, Md.) who have combined for 17 rushing touchdowns on the year. Avit ranks third among FCS freshmen with 887 rushing yards on the year and is tied for second among FCS freshmen with his nine rushing touchdowns. Watkins ranks fifth in CAA Football with 130 points he is responsible for, including his eight rushing touchdowns along with 13 passing touchdowns and two rushes for two-point conversions.