CHUCKY SMITH DB | SR VS. MAINE SEPTEMBER 28, 2019 VILLANOVA, PA. | 3:30 P.M. GAME PRESENTED BY 2019 GAMEDAY [VILLANOVA, PA. ] VILLANOVA STADIUM VILLANOVA.COM 3 2019 FOOTBALL TABLE OF CONTENTS @NovaFootball VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY STAFF EDITOR Dean Kenefick ASSISTANT EDITOR David Berman CONTRIBUTORS Mike Sheridan Michelle Ruel VILLANOVA SPORTS PROPERTIES GENERAL MANAGER Drew Young SENIOR DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Kevin Levy SENIOR MANAGER, PARTNER SERVICES Danielle Durocher VILLANOVA SPORTS PROPERTIES DEPARTMENT OF ATHLETICS 800 Lancaster Avenue Villanova, PA 19085 (610) 519-6613 ADVERTISING INFORMATION Drew Young drew.young@foxsports.net (610) 519-6613 COVER DESIGN & LAYOUT PROVATIONS GROUP Jai Giffin, Bob Slater 851 Corporate Drive, Suite 100 Lexington, KY 40503 (859) 514-0533 www.provationsgroup.com 2019 VILLANOVA FOOTBALL SCHEDULE OVERALL: 4-0 / CAA: 1-0 DATE OPPONENT LOCATION TIME/RESULT RECAP Aug. 24 at Colgate Hamilton, N.Y. W, 34-14 Sept. 7 vs. Lehigh Villanova, Pa. W, 38-10 Sept. 14 at Bucknell Lewisburg, Pa. W, 45-10 Sept. 21 at Towson* Towson, Md. W, 52-45 OT Sept. 28 Maine* Villanova, Pa. 3:30 p.m. Oct. 5 at William & Mary* Williamsburg, Va. 3:30 p.m. Oct. 12 at James Madison* Harrisonburg, Va. 1:30 p.m. Oct. 26 vs. Stony Brook* Villanova, Pa. 3:30 p.m. Nov. 2 at New Hampshire* Durham, N.H. 1:00 p.m. Nov. 9 vs. Richmond* Villanova, Pa. 1:00 p.m. Nov. 15 vs. Long Island Villanova, Pa. 7:00 p.m. Nov. 23 vs. Delaware* Villanova, Pa. 1:00 p.m. ALL HOME GAMES ARE PLAYED AT VILLANOVA STADIUM. All games times are EST and subject to change. FEATURES 6 FROM THE PRESSBOX It’s a battle of two Top 15 teams on Family Day Weekend as No. 8 Villanova meets No. 12 Maine. 48 SPOTLIGHT: FIELD HOCKEY Third generation Wildcat, Lydia Sydnor, has helped provide the spark that has Villanova off to its best start since 2008. MAINE GAME SEPTEMBER 28 // VILLANOVA, PA. VILLANOVA STADIUM continued on page 32019 FOOTBALL 2019 GAMEDAY VILLANOVA STADIUM [VILLANOVA, PA. ] TABLE OF CONTENTS VILLANOVA.COM 4 GAME STATISTICS COMPARISON 8 VILLANOVA ROSTER 10 MAINE ROSTER 12 TODAY’S GAME DEPTH CHART 14 HEAD COACH MARK FERRANTE 16 ASSISTANT COACHES 22 MEET THE WILDCATS 30 VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY 38 PRESIDENT REV. PETER DONOHUE, O.S.A. 40 ATHLETICS DIRECTOR MARK JACKSON 41 VILLANOVA STADIUM 43 VILLANOVA ON THE AIR 45 KNOW THE LIMITS 46 CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS 50 CAA CONFERENCE 52 PAYTON AWARD WINNERS 54 HONORS AWARDS 56 ALL-AMERICANS 59 WILDCATS IN THE PROS 61 MILESTONES IN VILLANOVA HISTORY 62 RETIRED JERSEYS 65 YEARLY STATISTICAL LEADERS 69 CONTENTS 6 VILLANOVA.COM HEADLINE 2019 GAMEDAY VILLANOVA STADIUM [VILLANOVA, PA. ] THE MAINE EVENT: Villanova is 12-10 all-time against the Maine Black Bears entering this week’s game. The visiting team has won six of the last nine meetings in the series, with the three exceptions being the Wildcats 13-3 win at Villanova Stadium in 2015 and 31-0 home victory in 2017 and Maine’s home win last season by a score of 13-10. The teams had never played each other prior to becoming conference oppo- nents in 1988. This week’s game will be the 23rd meeting in the last 32 seasons. TOP 15 MATCH-UP: Saturday’s Family Weekend game will feature a battle of two Top 15 teams. Villanova enters play ranked No. 8 with a perfect 4-0 record, while No. 12 Maine is 2-2 on the season. The Black Bears have defeated Sacred Heart (42-14 on Aug. 30) and Colgate (35-21 on Sept. 21) and lost to Georgia Southern (26-18 on Sept. 7) and Towson (45- 23 on Sept. 14). CRACKING THE TOP 10: After beginning the year unranked, Villanova cracked the Top 10 in the STATS FCS Top 25 at No. 8. The Wildcats are one of six CAA teams ranked this week (No. 2 JMU, No. 10 Towson, No. 12 Maine, No. 20 Delaware, No. 24 Elon). NATIONAL RECOGNITION: Villanova was named the STATS FCS Team of the Week for their performance in the 52-45 overtime win at No. 5 Towson on Saturday. The victory improved the Wildcats to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in CAA play. CAA HONORS: For his efforts in Saturday’s 52-45 win at No. 5 Towson, junior quarterback Daniel Smith was named the CAA Offensive Player of the Week. In the victory, Smith registered 349 yards of total offense and completed 25-of-42 for 279 yards and four touchdowns to go with seven carries for 70 yards and two scores. Smith engineered a 65-yard drive in the final 1:38 to set up a game-tying field goal and then scored the game-winning touchdown on a two-yard run in overtime. SUCCESSFUL START: Villanova is off to a 4-0 start in the early going of 2019. This is the first time since 2009 that the Wildcats started the season 4-0. That 2009 team went 5-0 on its way to a 14-1 mark and the NCAA FCS national cham- pionship. WORKING EXTRA: The overtime win at Towson last Sat- urday was Villanova’s first overtime game since a 19-10 loss at Albany in 2017. The Towson victory was Villanova’s first overtime win since a 28-21 triumph over Delaware in the final game of the 2010 regular season. Villanova is 11-6 in overtime games as an FCS member (since 1985). TOP 5 VICTORY: Saturday’s win at No. 5 Towson was Vil- lanova’s first victory over a top-5 opponent since 2013 when the Wildcats defeated then-No. 3 Towson by a final score of 45-35, also in a game played at Johnny Unitas Stadium. Since becoming an FCS member in 1985, the Wildcats are an impressive 17-12 (.586) all-time against top-5 teams in the STATS FCS rankings. Villanova also improved to 47-46 all- time in games where both the Wildcats and their opponent are nationally ranked. VILLANOVA (4-0, 1-0 CAA) MAINE (2-2, 0-1 CAA) Junior running back Justin Covington tallied a career-high 27 carries for a career-best 194 yards and a touchdown in last Saturday’s win at No. 5 Towson. FROM THE PRESSBOX SATURDAY | SEPTEMBER 28, 2019 | 3:30 P.M. VILLANOVA, PA. VS.8 VILLANOVA.COM 2019 FOOTBALL 2019 GAMEDAY VILLANOVA STADIUM [VILLANOVA, PA. ] GAME STATISTICS COMPARISONS VILLANOVA STATS LEADERS RUSHING ATT NET AVG TD LONG AVG/G Justin Covington 61 556 9.1 2 64 139.0 Jalen Jackson 31 186 6.0 0 52 46.5 Daniel Smith 21 142 6.8 4 36 35.5 PASSING CMP-ATT-INT PCT YDS TD AVG/G Daniel Smith 65-118-3 55.1 765 13 191.2 RECEIVING NO. YDS AVG TD LONG AVG/G Changa Hodge 13 139 10.7 2 45 34.8 Zac Kerxton 10 102 10.2 0 19 25.5 Jaaron Hayek 9 152 16.9 3 31 50.7 DEFENSE UA A TOT TFL-YDS SACKS-YDS Forrest Rhyne 19 12 31 3.0-9 1.0-6 Amin Black 11 15 26 1.0-1 0.0-0 Jaquan Amos 18 5 23 2.0-7 0.0-0 MAINE STATS LEADERS RUSHING ATT NET AVG TD LONG AVG/G Emmanual Reed 47 199 4.2 3 13 49.7 Joe Fitzpatrick 30 155 5.2 3 18 38.7 Elijah Brooks 12 58 4.8 0 39 29.0 PASSING CMP-ATT-INT PCT YDS TD AVG/G Chris Ferguson 82-144-6 56.9 1,275 6 318.7 RECEIVING NO. YDS AVG TD LONG AVG/G Earnest Edwards 15 333 22.2 3 54 83.2 Jacquan Blair 18 284 15.7 2 68 71.0 Devin Young 15 260 17.3 2 42 65.0 DEFENSE UA A TOT TFL-YDS SACKS-YDS Taji Lowe 10 15 25 3.5-10 0.5-2 Joshua Huffman 16 8 24 1.5-7 0.0-0 Adrian Otero 6 18 24 3.0-8 1.0-3 Here is a quick look at the top team statistics for the Wildcats and the Black Bears. QUICK LOOK n TOTAL TOUCHDOWNS 2315 n RUSHING YARDS 1023423 n PASSING YARDS 7801304 30-19-1092411_IBC_Together_Villanova_8.625x11.125_4C_r0.indd 17/23/19 10:19 AMNext >