VILLANOVA, Pa.—Two of the top five ranked teams in the FCS will face each other on Saturday afternoon when No. 5 Villanova (6-0, 3-0 CAA Football) travels to No. 2 James Madison (5-1, 2-0) for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff at Bridgeforth Stadium. The game can be seen live on FloFootball, as well as in local markets on MASN2. The game will mark the first time since the 2009 national championship game that the Wildcats will play in a top-five showdown.
Saturday's broadcast on FloFootball can be seen across all screens by downloading the FloSports app on iOS, Roku or Apple TV 4. The radio call with Ryan Fannon and
Steve Pinone will air on 610 ESPN as well as TuneIn. Live stats and links to other relevant game information can be found in the links at the top of this release.
Villanova is one of five remaining unbeaten FCS teams and is riding its best start in 16 years with a 6-0 overall record and a 3-0 conference mark. After beginning the season unranked in both the STATS FCS Top 25 and the FCS Coaches Poll, the Wildcats have made a steady rise up the national rankings. Three of the team's six victories have come against teams who were ranked in the top-15 nationally at the time of the game, including Colgate (No. 13), Towson (No. 5) and Maine (No. 12).
This week will also be the fifth road game in the first seven contests of the season for Villanova, which is coming off a 35-28 victory at William & Mary last week. That game came down to the wire and was decided on a one-yard touchdown reception by freshman running back
DeeWil Barlee (Upper Darby, Pa.) with 1:59 to play. Barlee also rushed for a touchdown earlier in the game, while fellow freshman
Jaaron Hayek (Wayne, N.J.) caught two touchdown passes for the second time in three weeks. Midway through his first collegiate season, Hayek leads the Wildcats with 21 receptions for 305 yards and five touchdowns.
Saturday's game features the top two offensive teams in the CAA to this point in the season. James Madison averages a league-best 41.2 points per game, while Villanova is scoring 39.5 points per contest and has registered 33 or more points in each of its six games on the year. The only other season in school history in which the Wildcats scored 30 points or more in each of their first six games was in 1997 when the team posted an unbeaten regular season.
The center of attention in the Villanova offense has been junior quarterback
Daniel Smith (Leesburg, Va.), who has had a hand in 23 of the 32 touchdowns the Wildcats have scored. Smith has thrown for 1,228 yards and 17 touchdowns while going 101-of-176 (57.4%) through the air, and he has also rushed for 200 yards and another six scores. He ranks second in the FCS in the number of points he is responsible for (138) and is also fifth in the country in passing touchdowns.
Junior linebacker
Forrest Rhyne (Waynesboro, Pa.) leads Villanova defensively with 49 tackles, including a team-high seven tackles for loss. He and senior safety
Chucky Smith (Newbury Park, Calif.) are each coming off of career-best efforts in the William & Mary win. Rhyne tallied a career-high 15 total tackles in the game, with his 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in the contest also new career bests. Smith added a career-high 12 total stops, including 10 solo tackles.
The first-ever meeting between the Wildcats and the Dukes took place back in 1993 and the teams have met during the regular season each year since. James Madison leads the all-time series by a 16-11 margin and has won the last four matchups, the first time in the series that either team has won four straight games against the other. Villanova's last win in Harrisonburg came in 2009.
