The owners of the longest active home winning streak in the FCS are back at Villanova Stadium to open a two-game homestand on Saturday afternoon. Excitement is high for No. 10/7 Villanova (7-2, 6-1 CAA Football) as it hosts Stony Brook (5-5, 3-3 CAA Football) for a 1 p.m. kickoff in what will be the Wildcats final regular season conference game in CAA Football. Saturday's contest is presented by Main Line Health. Themes of the game include Heroes Day and Alumni Day. It is also 'Cats Go Greek Day and The Nation Day.
Villanova will be wearing white helmets with navy blue jerseys and navy blue pants for Saturday's game. Fans are encouraged to dress in their favorite navy or white Wildcats apparel for the game, and help the team continue its home field advantage. Villanova has won 20 consecutive home games since the middle of the 2022 season and is 4-0 in the friendly confines of Villanova Stadium this year. The home winning streak became the longest active streak in the FCS on October 25 when the Wildcats defeated UAlbany and South Dakota State fell at home to North Dakota State to end what had been a 34-game home streak.
TODAY'S GAME
Villanova hosts Stony Brook on Saturday afternoon in the ninth meeting between the teams. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Villanova Stadium and the Wildats have another full slate of promotions planned. It is Heroes Day and Alumni Day, while Saturday will also be the 'Cats Go Greek game and The Nation Day. The game will be broadcast live on FloCollege with
Jake Starr and
Steve Pinone in the booth, and
Tessa Peloso on the sidelines. The radio call with
Ryan Fannon and Villanova Hall of Famer
Kirk Schulz can be heard on the Villanova Sports Radio Network on Fox Sports Radio Philly; live streaming audio is available on mobile devices via the iHeart radio app.
ABOUT VILLANOVA
Villanova extended its winning streak to six games with a hard-fought 28-10 road win at Towson last week. The game was tied 7-7 at halftime and the Wildcats were clinging to a 14-10 lead with less than five minutes to play before sealing the outcome with two late touchdowns. Villanova has outscored the opposition by a 210-92 margin during the six game winning streak and owns a +19.7 scoring margin in the six games.
ABOUT STONY BROOK
Stony Brook has alternated wins and losses over its last five games and enters play this week with an even record of 5-5 overall and 3-3 in conference play. The Seawolves were home last week against North Carolina A&T and tallied a 38-12 victory. Stony Brook head coach
Billy Cosh was hired as the second-youngest head coach in Division I college football (FBS or FCS) and guided the Seawolves to an 8-4 record in his debut season at 32 years old in 2024. He is 13-9 overall as a head coach over the last two seasons.
SERIES STUFF
Villanova and Stony Brook played each other in the first round of the FCS playoffs in 2012, one season before the Seawolves became a CAA Football member in 2013. Stony Brook won the playoff game, 20-10, and went on to capture three of the first four games in the all-time series. The trend has reversed itself of late though, as the Wildcats have won the past four matchups (Spring 2021, Fall 2021, 2023, 2024) by an average of 18.0 points per contest.
END OF AN ERA
Villanova is playing its final regular season CAA Football game this week before joining the Patriot League as an associate member in football beginning in 2026. The Wildcats began playing in what was then the Yankee Conference in 1988 and have been a member of the league ever since as it transitioned to the Atlantic 10 (1997-06) and CAA Football (2007-present). The partnership has been a good one for both sides and, since joining the league, Villanova has made 16 playoff appearances while winning a share of seven league titles. The Wildcats are 184-117 (.611) all-time in the conference.
CAA FINALES, PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS
Villanova and William & Mary will both be playing their final CAA regular season games this weekend, as the Tribe travel to Hampton. William & Mary will also be joining the Patriot League as an associate member in football next season. This week's games have more immediate implications than the league finales for the Wildcats and the Tribe, however. Villanova remains in the hunt for the CAA title and William & Mary is making a playoff push of its own with two weeks left in the regular season. The Wildcats are currently 6-1 in conference play and half a game behind first place Rhode Island (6-0).
HOME SWEET HOME
Villanova owns the longest active home winning streak in the FCS at 20 straight games. The streak began midway through the 2022 season and includes a 4-0 record this year with wins over Colgate (24-17), William & Mary (31-24), Hampton (56-14) and UAlbany (29-16). The current streak is the longest home winning streak in Villanova history and it became the longest active streak in the FCS on October 25 when the Wildcats defeated UAlbany and South Dakota State had a 34-game home winning streak snapped in a loss to North Dakota State.
100 GAME MILESTONE
Villanova head coach
Mark Ferrante will mark his 100th game as head coach with this week's Stony Brook contest. Ferrante succeeded
Andy Talley after spending 30 years as an assistant coach on Talley's staff from 1987 through 2016. Ferrante is now in his ninth year as the Wildcats head coach. He will join Talley as the only head coaches in program history to reach the 100 game milestone.
Ferrante owns a career head coaching record of 64-35 (.646) and has led the Wildcats to a share of two CAA Football titles (2021, 2023) along with four FCS playoff appearances (2019, 2021, 2023, 2024).
Ferrante tallied his 42nd regular season CAA Football win with the 28-10 triumph over Towson last week. Since becoming head coach in 2017, Ferrante has a record of 42-25 (.627) in regular season conference games. His 42 CAA wins are the most of any current head coach in the league, one more than
Mike London of William & Mary who has won 41 conference games in stops at Richmond and with the Tribe.
FANTASTIC FIVE
Villanova has compiled a record of 43-17 (.717) over the last five seasons (2021-25) while making three playoff appearances and winning 10+ games three times. At the start of the season the Wildcats were one of six FCS teams to have won 10 or more games in at least three of the last four years, while in terms of winning percentage Villanova ranked 12th among all FCS teams since the start of the 2021 season. Its 43 wins over the last five years are the most of any CAA Football member.
DECADE OF DOMINANCE
Villanova is the only current CAA Football member to have won at least 70 games over the past 10 seasons (2016-25). In this stretch the Wildcats have an overall record of 73-39 (.652) and have gone 48-27 (.640) in regular season conference games while making the playoffs five times.
VETERAN EXPERIENCE
Villanova has 93 players on its 2025 roster and they have played in a combined 1,603 games in their collegiate careers. The roster includes 18 players who have played in at least 30 career games and 10 who have played in 40 or more. On the other end of the spectrum, 26 players have made their college football debuts already this season.
This week's game against Stony Brook will likely be the third consecutive contest in which the Wildcats have a player reach the milestone of 50 career games played. Punter
Luke Larsen marked his 50th game of college football against UAlbany on October 25 and linebacker
Shane Hartzell followed suit with his 50th career game at Towson last week. Next up is defensive lineman
Ayden Howard who can reach the milestone of 50 games this week. Two additional players — offensive linemen
Stephane Voltaire and
Temi Ajirotutu — have a chance to join the 50-game club later this season. Voltaire is currently at 47 games played and Ajirotutu has played in 46 career games.
There are six graduate transfers on the team this year who had each played in at least two dozen games prior to arriving on the Main Line. The six are punter
Luke Larsen (East Carolina); placekicker
Jack Barnum (Central Connecticut State); wide receiver
Luke Colella (Princeton); quarterback
Pat McQuaide (Nicholls); and defensive backs
Jordan Adderley (Lehigh) and
Julian Talley (Penn).
DOMINANT DEFENSE
The biggest difference for Villanova from a 1-2 start to the season to its current six-game winning streak has been the play of its defense. The past three games against Hampton, UAlbany and Towson have seen a particularly dominant defensive effort. In the three games, the Wildcats have allowed just 40 total points and limited the opposition to an average of 237.0 yards of total offense per contest. Villanova held those three teams to just 26 percent on third downs (10-of-38) and recorded more sacks (eight) than it allowed touchdowns (five).
Villanova carried a 14-10 lead into the fourth quarter of the Towson game last week. That was then the defense completely stifled the Tigers the rest of the way. Towson had three possessions in the fourth quarter and managed just 14 total yards on 12 plays, including 0-for-7 passing. Earlier in the game, the Tigers scored their only touchdown of the day on a two-play, 73-yard drive in the first quarter. If you take out the two big plays on that drive, Towson averaged just 3.8 yards per play on its other 57 offensive snaps.
Although the Wildcats had just one sack in the game at Towson last week, prior to that contest Villanova had registered three or more sacks in five straight games. That was the longest streak of games with at least three sacks in at least 23 years and possibly more based on easily available statistical records.
FUMBLE RETURN FOR A TOUCHDOWN
Prior to the Hampton game on October 18, the Wildcats defense had not recovered a fumble by the opposition this season and had not had a fumble recovery for a touchdown in more than eight years. Those are the kinds of trends that are good to wipe off the board, and it only took one player — fifth year defensive lineman
Obinna Nwobodo — to do it. In the second quarter against the Pirates, Nwobodo forced a fumble at the VU 47-yard line, immediately scooped up the ball and then returned it 53 yards for his first career score. It was the second career forced fumble and first recovery for Nwobodo. The last Villanova player with a fumble return touchdown was
Rob Rolle who went 99 yards for a score against Maine on October 7, 2017.
THAT'S NOT OFFENSIVE
The fumble return touchdown by
Obinna Nwobodo against Hampton was the first defensive touchdown of the season for Villanova, but it was also the third non-offensive score in a span of four games. That is thanks to the efforts of junior
Ja'briel Mace who registered kickoff returns for touchdowns against William & Mary on September 27 and at Elon on October 11. This is the first time since 2019 that the Wildcats have scored as many as three non-offensive touchdowns in a season. It is the third time during the
Mark Ferrante coaching era (since 2017) that Villanova has scored three non-offensive touchdowns in a span of four games.
USING THE WHOLE ROSTER
Almost every available healthy player — 78 of the 93 players on the roster overall — saw playing time in the 56-14 win over Hampton on October 18. In addition to being a season high by far for number of players used, the participation for the Hampton game included 17 players — among them 13 true freshmen — who made their collegiate debut. Among the superlatives from the contest: nine different players had at least one rushing attempt, nine different receivers caught a pass and a whopping 32 players recorded at least one tackle.
HERE'S THE KICKER
Villanova kicker
Jack Barnum tied a season high with 11 points in the UAlbany game thanks to three made field goals and a pair of PATs. Barnum kicked field goals from 41 yards and 23 yards in the second quarter, followed by a season long 44-yarder in the third period. He has 14 career made field goals from 40+ yards, including three this year in his first season with the Wildcats. Barnum started his collegiate career at UAlbany and went on to play at Central Connecticut State before coming to the Main Line. Barnum is 9-of-16 (56.3%) on field goals this season and 29-of-31 on PATs. His career totals are 38-of 55 (69.1%) field goal kicking and 93-of-97 on PATs for a total of 207 points.
DRIVE FOR FIVE
Graduate quarterback
Pat McQuaide threw for a career high five touchdowns despite only attempting 13 passes in the Hampton game on October 18. He was 10-of-13 through the air for 166 yards and the five scores. His previous career high for touchdown passes in a single contest was four against Southern last season while he was playing for Nicholls. McQuaide recorded the only the second occurrence in Villanova history of a single game passing efficiency rating over 300. His efficiency rating for the day was 311.1, trailing only the school record of 369.5 by
Connor Watkins on September 9, 2023 against Colgate when he was 8-of-11 for 310 yards and two touchdowns.
MORE ON MCQUAIDE
Pat McQuaide has been nothing short of a revelation for the Wildcats this season. He played at Nicholls in 2023 and 2024 before coming to Villanova this year, where he has thrown for 1,847 yards and 13 touchdowns with only two interceptions. McQuaide is 141-of-229 through the air this season. He has completed 61.6 percent of his passes and ranks second in CAA Football with an average of 205.2 passing yards per game. McQuaide is third in the CAA in efficiency rating (146.3), yards per completion (13.10) and yards per attempt (8.07). McQuaide topped 6,000 career passing yards in the UAlbany game on October 25. Including his career at Nicholls and this season with the Wildcats, he is 536-of-915 (58.6 percent) passing for 6,261 yards with 40 touchdowns and 24 interceptions. During the Wildcats current six game winning streak, McQuaide has thrown for 1,188 yards with 10 touchdowns and just one interception.
CATCHING ON
Fifth year collegian
Luke Colella has made an instant impact on the Villanova offense in his first year with the team. After playing his undergraduate college ball at Princeton the last four years, Colella is the Wildcats leading receiver this year with 50 catches for 768 yards and five touchdowns. The five scores came in a span of three games against Elon, Hampton and UAlbany. Colella currently ranks second in the CAA and 14th nationally in receptions per game (5.56). He also ranks third in the CAA and in the top 20 nationally in receiving yards per game (85.3) and total receiving yards.
Colella had a career high 10 receptions for 125 yards and two touchdowns at Elon on October 11. It was the first time a Villanova player reached double digits in receptions in a single game since
Matt Szczur had 11 catches against Stephen F. Austin in the 2010 FCS playoffs. Colella has five 100-yard receiving games this season which is one off the single season school record of six that has been accomplished on four occasions. The last player with six 100-yard game in a season was
Murle Sango in 1999.
20 IN A ROW
Sixth year collegian
Lucas Kopecky has caught at least one pass in all 20 college football games he has played in. The streak of 20 straight games with a reception is the longest by a Villanova player since
Poppy Livers had a catch in 29 straight games spanning the 2012 to 2014 seasons.
Kopecky continued the streak with a 17-yard catch against Towson last week. His career totals in his 20 games played now add up to 50 receptions for 663 yards and four touchdowns. He made his collegiate debut last year when he had 26 catches for 302 yards and two scores, finishing third on the team in receiving.
Kopecky played four years of lacrosse for Villanova (2021-24) and appeared in 40 games before walking on to the football team as a graduate student entering the 2024 season. He was a three-year football letterwinner at Montgomery (N.J.) High School in his scholastic career, earning two all-conference honors and two honorable mention all-state accolades.
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM TIGHT ENDS
All four tight ends on the Villanova roster have seen consistent playing time this season. The group includes veteran
Antonio Johnson who is in his fifth year with the Wildcats along with
Nolan Clayton (third year),
Sean Brodnik (second year) and
Sean Welde (first year). The quartet has combined to make 14 receptions for 139 yards and three touchdowns on the year, with at least one of the four making a catch in eight of the nine games played.
In the Hampton game (Oct. 18),
Antonio Johnson had a 10-yard touchdown reception for his third career score and
Sean Brodnik caught his first career pass for a four-yard touchdown. It was the first time since November 1, 2003 against Richmond that VU had two tight ends catch a touchdown pass in the same game. In the 2003 game the two tight ends with scores were
Anthony Wright and
Quinn Matt. Just like Johnson and Brodnik, Wright and Quinn also recorded the third and first touchdowns of their careers that day.
Prior to the Hampton game, the last time VU even had two tight ends catch a pass in the same game was on September 16, 2023 against UCF when Johnson and
Justin Marcus each had one reception.
PUNT RETURNS
True freshman
Braden Reed ranks third in the FCS with an average of 18.6 yards per punt return this season. He has 14 punt returns on the year for a total of 260 yards, including eight returns of 20 yards or longer. Before him, the last Villanova player to even have five punt returns of 20+ yards in a single season was
J.J. Outlaw in 2004. Reed's current average of 18.6 yards per return would be the second-best mark for a full season in school history.
VILLANOVA FOOTBALL HISTORY
Villanova has compiled a 294-172-1 (.631) record in 40 seasons as an FCS member. The program's success includes 16 appearances in the FCS playoffs and appearing in the final national rankings of the season 19 times in the last 36 years.
POSTSEASON SUCCESS
Villanova is tied for 10th in FCS history with 16 playoff appearances. In their FCS playoff history, the Wildcats have a record of 15-15 with one national championship (2009) and three semifinal berths (2002, 2009, 2010). Villanova has won at least one playoff game in 10 of its last 12 postseason appearances. The 15 playoff wins for the Wildcats are tied for the 12th most ever among current FCS programs.
POLLING PLACES
Villanova is ranked No. 10 in this week's Stats Perform FCS Top 25 and comes in at No. 7 in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll. This year is the 33rd time in the last 38 seasons that the Wildcats have been nationally ranked at some point during the season.
Villanova ranks fourth among all teams in FCS history (since 1978) for the number of weeks appearing in the national media poll. In their 335 weeks being nationally ranked, the Wildcats have been in the top 10 for a total of 155 weeks (11th most all-time) and have been ranked in the top five for 66 weeks.
Only two current FCS programs have been ranked more weeks than Villanova at 335 weeks. Those teams are Montana (451) and Northern Iowa (413). There are 18 FCS programs (current and former) who have been ranked for 200 or more weeks since 1978. All 18 have ascended to No. 1 in the rankings at least once.
Villanova has the fifth-longest active streak of consecutive weeks ranked in the Stats Perform FCS Top 25. The Wildcats streak is at 34 consecutive weeks and began with the October 16, 2023 poll.
PRESEASON WATCH LISTS
Sophomore running back
David Avit and senior linebacker
Shane Hartzell have been named to the preseason watch lists for the Walter Payton Award and the Buck Buchanan Award, respectively. These national honors are given to the top offensive and defensive players in the FCS at the end of each season. Villaonva is one of 10 teams to have at least one player on both watch lists at the start of the season. The others are Harvard, Illinois State, Montana, Montana State, North Dakota State, Rhode Island, Samford, South Dakota State and UIW.
RECORD-SETTING DEBUT
No Villanova quarterback has ever thrown for 300 yards in his first start for the team. However, the last two signal callers to debut for the Wildcats have thrown for 298 and 299 yards, respectively. Graduate student
Pat McQuaide, a transfer from Nicholls, made his first start for VU against Colgate on September 6 and threw for 299 yards and a score. He surpassed the previous school record for most passing yards in the first start for the team which was held for the past three years by
Connor Watkins, the starter from 2022-24 who threw for 298 yards in his first career start against Lehigh to open the 2022 season.
In addition to setting a record for most passing yards by a quarterback in his first VU start, McQuaide became the third straight Villanova starter to win his debut while throwing for over 200 yards and recording at least one passing and rushing touchdown.
McQuaide is only the third left-handed quarterback to start a game for Villanova in their FCS era. The others are
Christian Culicerto (2011) and
Zach Bednarczyk (2015-18).
ENTERING WITH LIFE EXPERIENCE
The oldest active player in Division I college football this season is Villanova punter
Luke Larsen who recently turned 33 years old and made his Wildcats debut in the season opener against Colgate. Larsen is a graduate student transfer from East Carolina and a native of Australia who played Australian Rules Football, volleyball, cricket and tennis during his scholastic career prior to coming to the United States.
Larsen is having a strong season for Villanova and has punted 26 times through the first nine games of the season. He is averaging 40.7 yards per punt with two attempts for over 50 yards and nine that have been downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line. Larsen played in his 50th career game against UAlbany on October 25 and during that contest surpassed 8,000 career punting yards. His career collegiate totals are 200 punts for 8,157 yards with an average of 40.8 yards per punt.
Larsen punted 174 times at East Carolina while averaging 40.8 yards per punt. He landed 51 punts inside the 20-yard line, booted 19 punts for 50+ yards and had 75 of 174 attempts fair caught.
ALL ABOUT AVIT
Sophomore running back
David Avit became the 25th player in school history with more than 1,500 career rushing yards when he reached the milestone against Hampton on October 18. Avit has played in 23 career games and has rushed 296 times for 1,606 yards and 14 touchdowns. His career average of 69.8 rushing yards per game ranks sixth in school history, while his career average of 5.45 yards per carry ranks 12th in the Villanova record book.
Avit ranks third in CAA Football in yards per carry (5.55) this season and is fourth in the league in rushing touchdowns (eight), rushing yards per game (75.9) and total rushing yards (683).
Avit needed just 16 games to reach 1,000 career rushing yards. He achieved the milestone against Penn State on September 13. The only players in Villanova history who have gotten to 1,000 rushing yards in fewer games are quarterback
John Robertson (2011-15) who needed 14 games and running back
Gene Filipski (1952-53) who reached the milestone in just 11 games.
Avit was a finalist for last year's Jerry Rice Award which is presented to the top freshman in the FCS. He ranked third among FCS rookies with 923 rushing yards last season. He was named to this year's preseason watch list for the Walter Payton Award.
