Football 10/6/2016 12:00:00 AM

Wildcats Look to Continue Winning Ways against Rhode Island

Oct. 6, 2016

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF SATURDAY AFTERNOON'S GAME AGAINST RHODE ISLAND

VILLANOVA, Pa.--After playing consecutive road games the past two weeks, 14th-ranked Villanova (4-1, 2-0 CAA Football) returns home on Saturday afternoon riding a four-game winning streak. Next up for the Wildcats is Rhode Island (1-4, 0-2 CAA Football), who visits Villanova Stadium on Saturday for a 12 p.m. kickoff. The game will be broadcast live by American Sports Network and can be seen in the Philadelphia area on The Comcast Network, as well as on several regional carriers nationwide.

The last time Villanova played at home, the Wildcats tallied a 40-21 victory over Towson in their CAA Football opener. Since then, Villanova has won road games against Lafayette and Elon by a combined score of 73-21. The team has fired on all cylinders in those two contests, with a defense that continues to make plays and an offense that has struck a balance between the running game and the passing game.

In last week's 42-7 win at Elon, the Wildcats racked up a school-record 35 first downs and had 557 yards of total offense. Sophomore quarterback Zach Bednarczyk (Wallington, N.J.) threw for a career-high 270 yards and three touchdowns in addition to running for 58 yards and a score in the victory. Junior running back Matt Gudzak (Toms River, N.J.) and sophomore running back Aaron Forbes (Newburgh, N.Y.) added two touchdowns apiece.

Villanova limited the Phoenix to just six first downs, 33 passing yards and 130 yards of total offense in last week's lopsided win. It was the fewest total yards that the Wildcats had allowed since 2013 and the fewest passing yards allowed by the team in more than a decade. Villanova is giving up just 18.2 points and 298.0 yards of offense per game to its opponents this season, and the defense has forced 10 turnovers in five games.

Senior defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon (Ambler, Pa.), who was added to the Watch List for the STATS FCS Defensive Player of the Year award this week, has registered at least one sack in four straight games. He has a career-high 11.0 tackles for loss already this season, with more than half the year still to play.

Kpassagnon and junior safety Rob Rolle (Newfield, N.J.) are the top two playmakers on the defense and have combined for three of the Wildcats four defensive touchdowns this season. Rolle had a fumble return for a score in the season opener at Pittsburgh and a school-record 100-yard interception return for a touchdown versus Towson. Kpassagnon scored his first career touchdown on a 25-yard fumble return at Lafayette.

The opponent for Villanova this week will be one of its most familiar conference foes. Saturday's game will be the 22nd meeting between the Wildcats and the Rams since the all-time series began in 1988. Villanova leads the series by an 18-3 margin and has won the past five contests by an average margin of 22.0 points.

Rhode Island is coming off a 28-13 home win over Brown in the annual Governor's Cup game between the two in-state foes. Junior running back Harold Cooper scored two touchdowns and ran for 135 yards in the win, while freshman defensive end William Mack III had two of the team's five sacks and sophomore safety D.J. Stewart added a team-high 12 tackles.

Beginning with this week's home game, the Wildcats will alternate home and road contests for the remainder of the regular season. Villanova will travel to Richmond next week (October 15, 3:30 p.m.) and then return home to host Albany (October 22, 3:30 p.m.).

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