VILLANOVA, Pa.—In the first regular season Friday night home game in 22 years, No. 13 Villanova (8-3) scored four touchdowns in the first half and went on to a 35-7 victory over LIU (0-9) at Villanova Stadium.  Junior quarterback Daniel Smith (Leesburg, Va.) had a hand in all five of the Wildcats touchdowns in the game, throwing for four scores and rushing for another in the victory. 
 
Smith was 15-of-22 for 201 yards through the air.  All four of his passing touchdowns came in the first half and Villanova raced out to a 21-0 lead in the first 16 minutes of play.  Junior wide receiver Changa Hodge (East Stroudsburg, Pa.) had a game-high seven receptions for 103 yards and two touchdowns, senior tight end Simon Bingelis (Brick, N.J.) caught his first career touchdown pass and freshman wide receiver Jaaron Hayek (Wayne, N.J.) hauled in his seventh score of the season. 
 
The contest was the first-ever meeting between the two teams and the Wildcats final regular season non-conference game.  Villanova has reached eight wins in a season for the first time since 2016 and the 15^th time in its FCS history (since 1985).  With the win, the Wildcats have won 10 straight regular season contests against non-conference FCS opponents. 
 
After both teams punted on their first possessions of the game, the points came quickly for Villanova from the middle of the first quarter until early in the second period.  Bingelis caught a 17-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring at the 5:48 mark of the opening quarter to cap a nine-play, 75-yard drive.  Just over four minutes later, Hayek's seven-yard touchdown reception extended the score to 14-0. 
 
Less than a minute into the second period, freshman linebacker Elijah Solomon (Reisterstown, Md.) blocked a Sharks punt and the Wildcats recovered at the six-yard line.  The block set up a one-play possession for Villanova as Smith looked to Hodge for a six-yard score and a 21-0 lead. 
 
LIU got on the board with 6:43 remaining in the half when Malcolm Denbow scored on a six-yard run to finish off an 11-play, 64-yard drive which consumed just over seven minutes of game time.  Solomon blocked another punt later in the period, his second block of the game and the fourth of his rookie season.  The result of this blocked kick was the same as the first one, with Smith throwing a 30-yard touchdown pass to Hodge with 1:29 to play before the intermission. 

Although there are no official Villanova records for blocked kicks, Solomon's four blocked punts this season are known to the most by any Wildcats player in a single year since at least 2003.  His two blocked punts in Friday night's game are also the lone occurrence of that feat in the same time period.  The FCS record for blocked punts in a game is three and has been done twice, most recently in 2000 by Colgate.
 
Junior linebacker Forrest Rhyne (Waynesboro, Pa.) led all players with 10 total tackles in the game, including seven solo stops.  He recorded his sixth game of the season and fifth in the last six contests with double digits in total tackles.  Sophomore linebacker Qwahsin Townsel (Egg Harbor Twp., N.J.) and senior safety Chucky Smith (Newbury Park, Calif.) added eight tackles apiece. 
 
Villanova closes out the regular season with a 1 p.m. home game against Delaware next Saturday in the annual Battle of the Blue rivalry game.