Villanova vs. New Hampshire Recap | Wildcats move into a tie for first place

Villanova moves into a tie for first place in the CAA with a huge win against New Hampshire, 45-33.

Villanova’s Stats

Villanova rushed for 248 yards and four touchdowns. Jalen Jackson led Villanova running backs with 19 carries for 145 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson has now moved into the top-10 all time on Villanova’s rushing list. DeeWil Barlee had seven carries for 53 yards. Wildcats’ QB, Connor Watkins, had four carries for 26 yards and two running touchdowns.

The Passing Game

Watkins completed 15 of his 25 passes for 188 yards and two passing touchdowns. He also had an interception in this game. Rayjuon Pringle was the top receiver for Villanova with four receptions for 104 yards and a touchdown. Pringle now has back-to-back games with at least 100 receiving yards. He has also moved into ninth place on Villanova’s all-time receiving yards list. Villanova RB, TD Ayo-Durojaiye, had two receptions for 26 yards and a touchdown. Jaaron Hayek led Wildcat receivers in receptions with six for 29 yards.

Villanova’s Defense

The final score does not completely tell the story for Villanova’s defense. While the defense struggled at times, they also forced three interceptions caught by Christian Sapp, Brendan Bell, and Shane Hartzell. Villanova held New Hampshire QB, Max Brosmer, to 259 yards and only one passing touchdown. For the first time in five games, Brosmer did not throw for at least 300 yards and did not have at least two touchdown passes. The Wildcats also held New Hampshire to just 138 rushing yards.

Villanova did have a tough time controlling dual threat, Dylan Laube. Laube had 19 carries for 132 yards and two rushing touchdowns. He also had 10 catches for 75 yards. DJ Linkins scored the other touchdown for New Hampshire on a seven-yard pass from Brosmer in the third quarter.

First Place Cats

Overall, Villanova found a way to win their first close game of the season. The Wildcats battled back after trailing early in the game. Villanova improved to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in CAA play. They have moved into a tie for first place in the conference with Albany, Elon, Delaware, and Richmond. The Wildcats have the tiebreaker over Elon and will play Delaware in a couple of weeks. Villanova does not hold the tiebreaker over Albany due to their loss against them. Villanova will play 3-3 Towson this Saturday at 1pm in the regular season home finale.

WXVU will have live coverage of this weekend’s game against Towson beginning with pregame coverage at 12:30pm followed by kickoff at 1pm. I’ll recap this game and much more on “Villanova Sports Talk” on Thursday at 12pm on WXVU.