Villanova stays in win column with close victory over conference foe Towson

Villanova narrowly extended its winning streak on Saturday with a 14–13 victory over visiting Towson, as its Coastal Athletic Association rival missed two potential game-winning field goals in the final 1 minute, 13 seconds.

With a tight scoreboard throughout, the confident Wildcats, ranked No. 4 in the FCS Coaches Poll and No. 5 in the Stats Peform FCS Poll, realized that defending last season’s CAA co-championship would not be an easy task.

“We know no matter who we play in the CAA, it’s going to be challenging,” said coach Mark Ferrante said. “We dodged a bullet. It wasn’t pretty, but I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day of the week.”

Here are some takeaways from Villanova’s close win that extended its undefeated record to 3-0.

The Villanova offense got off to a sluggish start.

Sixth-year quarterback Connor Watkins attempted to shift his focus from rushing the ball, but he threw three straight incomplete passes to end Villanova’s opening drive with a punt. On their next drive, the Wildcats suffered their first turnover of the season when receiver Kenyon Miles fumbled the ball.

Villanova reached the end zone once in the first half. Watkins rushed for 32 yards on the scoring drive before connecting with wide receiver Jaylan Sanchez on a 20-yard touchdown pass.

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Like in last weekend’s win over Colgate, Villanova gained more yardage when emphasizing the rushing game. Running back Isaiah Ragland led with 141 yards on the ground.

Down 10–7 in the third quarter, Villanova was struggling to find momentum

Towson running back Devin Matthews broke through Villanova’s defense for a 70-yard gain. Two plays later, Matthews would find the end zone, but a Tigers penalty nullified the touchdown.

Towson’s ensuing 31-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by sophomore JR Strauss in a game-changing moment.

The Wildcats’ offense capitalized. Ragland rushed for 65 yards to put Villanova on Towson’s 11-yard line. Watkins then threw a 6-yard pass to Sanchez to mark his second touchdown of the day.

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“Today was a big factor in building trust with my quarterback,” Sanchez said.

The energy continued in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats stoned the Tigers on the goal line on third down. A procedure penalty on fourth-and-1 resulted in Towson settling for a field goal.

Villanova survived a late scare when Towson (1-2) missed a field goal attempt with 1:13 left to play. The Wildcats’ relief, though, was short-lived when Ragland fumbled, giving the Tigers possession.

However, with four seconds left on the clock, a 37-yard attempt by Towson went wide right.

The Wildcats will not resume their conference schedule until facing Stony Brook on Oct. 5.

Villanova’s next matchup will be this season’s biggest challenge yet, a noon road game in its annual FBS face-off against Maryland.

“We’ll start preparing for Maryland tomorrow,” Ferrante said. “We have to try to figure out how we can play a little more consistent in all three phases.”