VILLANOVA, Pa.—The top two offensive teams in CAA Football through the first two weeks of the 2018 season will face each other on Saturday afternoon when No. 10 Villanova (2-0, 0-0 CAA) hosts Towson (1-1, 0-0) in its home and conference opener.  Kickoff at Villanova Stadium is set for 3:30 p.m.
 
Saturday's game will be broadcast by Fox College Sports and can be seen on Verizon FIOS systems on the FCS Atlantic channel (Channel 300).  The telecast is also accessible to all viewers on the FOX Sports GO mobile app.  Fans can also catch the radio broadcast of the game on 610 ESPN as well as on the TuneIn mobile app with Ryan Fannon and Kevin Reilly calling the action.   
 
Villanova posted identical totals of 405 yards of offense in each of its first two games of the season, wins over FBS member Temple (19-17) and Patriot League foe Lehigh (31-9).  The only CAA team to gain more yards than the Wildcats total of 810 through two games is Towson, which has bested Villanova by exactly one yard.  In their first two games of the season, the Tigers have tallied a 36-10 victory over Morgan State and been dealt a 51-20 loss by ACC member Wake Forest.  Each of those games were played on the road. 
 
The previous 14 meetings between the Wildcats and Towson have been evenly split geographically, with each team hosting the other seven times.  Villanova has an overall 9-5 edge in the all-time series and has won the past two meetings by a combined 34 points.  Those recent contests include a 40-21 victory at Villanova Stadium in 2016 and a 24-9 triumph on the road last year.  Other trends to watch out for in this year's meeting are the Wildcats all-time record of 23-8 in conference openers and 26-7 mark in home openers since becoming an FCS program in 1985.  Villanova has won its first home game in each of the last six years. 
 
"Towson is always going to be fast and physical," Wildcats head coach Mark Ferrante said.  "They are always going to be tough and you always are going to have your hands full with them.  They have a lot of guys back and [head coach] Rob Ambrose does a great job there."
 
Senior quarterback Zach Bednarczyk (Wallington, N.J.) has directed a balanced Wildcats attack while improving his career record as a starter under center to 18-10 (.643).  He enters this week's contest ranked third among FCS quarterbacks with six passing touchdowns on the year.  Bednarczyk is 45-of-69 for 469 yards overall, with senior tight end Ryan Bell (Basking Ridge, N.J.) and senior slot receiver Jarrett McClenton (Bensalem, Pa.) his top two targets thus far.  McClenton is coming off career highs of 114 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the win over Lehigh last week, while Bell leads the team with 14 catches on the year. 
 
One of the areas in which the depth of the Villanova roster stands out is in the running game, where four different players have already registered 10 or more carries.  Senior running back Aaron Forbes (Newburgh, N.Y.) has run 27 times for a total of 168 yards, including a 111-yard effort in the Temple win.  True freshman Jalen Jackson (Richmond, Va.) ran for 69 yards against Lehigh last week, while sophomore Justin Covington (Bronx, N.Y.) has rushed for 59 yards in the first two games and scored his first career touchdown last week.  Fifth-year senior Matt Gudzak (Toms River, N.J.) has 10 carries for 41 yards on the year, and the Wildcats are averaging 170.5 yards per game on the ground.
 
A mostly veteran Villanova defensive squad has continued to be one of the nation's dominant units at stopping the run.  Dating back to the start of the 2013 season (62 games) the Wildcats have held 27 opponents to fewer than 100 rushing yards in a game, including 15 occasions where the defense kept the other team under 50 yards on the ground.  The latter part of that statistic has held true in each of this season's first two games, as Villanova limited Temple to 46 rushing yards and Lehigh to just 32 yards.  Freshman cornerback Christian Benford (Randallstown, Md.) has made a team-high 11 solo tackles in his first two collegiate games, while sophomore Jaquan Amos (Philadelphia, Pa.) has 10 total stops. 
 
The defense has thus far performed at a high level, but then again the Wildcats have also done a good job of getting their defense off the field.  Villanova has run 151 offensive plays in the first two games compared to just 114 by its opponents, and has dominated time of possession with an average of 36:18 in the two contests.  That figure ranks sixth in the FCS and has helped the Wildcats accrue nearly 500 more total yards of offense (810-327) than its first two opponents.
 
Saturday will mark the first of two straight home games for Villanova, which will next host Bucknell during Family Weekend on September 22 at 6 p.m.