The University of Rhode Island football team traveled to Pennsylvania on Saturday to take on the Villanova University Wildcats, in a heavyweight matchup between two of the Top 25 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision teams.
The game was a Coastal Athletic Association matchup, the third of the year for Rhody.
The Rams entered the matchup with a 2-1 record and sat first place in the CAA standings, coming off back to back wins against Stony Brook and Maine, two other conference rivals.
The Wildcats entered the matchup with the same record, following a 48-14 defeat against the FBS school University of Central Florida.
The game opened with a long Villanova drive, where the Wildcats got to the Rhode Island 16 yard line, threatening to open the game with a score. The Rhody defense would not crack, as Rams’ third-year defensive back Fredrick Mallay intercepted Nova’s fifth-year quarterback Connor Watkins over the middle of the field on the eight yard line to keep the Wildcats off the board.
The Rams offense stalled after a short drive and returned the ball to the Wildcats, where during a three minute, six play, 65 yard drive, Watkins ran for 45 yards and capped off the drive with a one yard touchdown rush. The first score of the game put the home team up 7-0 following the point after touchdown with 5:23 remaining in the first quarter.
The Wildcats got the ball back with 4:18 to play in the quarter after a Rams three and out, and drove from midfield to the endzone in under three minutes. Watkins struck again on the ground for the Wildcats, this time for a 23 yard rush that he took into the endzone. The play was his second rushing touchdown of the game to make it 14-0 Wildcats with about 90 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The quarter ended with the same score of 14-0 with the Wildcats dominating the score sheet, having over 180 yards of total offense compared to URI’s 61.
The second quarter began with Rhode Island on the Villanova 42 yard line in an attempt to put together a drive to get points on the board. The drive eventually stalled after two short rush plays and an incomplete pass from seventh-year quarterback Kasim Hill on the 10 yard line. Rhody first-year kicker Ty Groft then converted a 27-yard field goal to get the Rams on the board and cut the Wildcats lead to 14-3 with 10:46 remaining in the second period of play.
Following the field goal, neither team put points on the board for over 11 minutes until Villanova’s offense put together a 79 yard drive with 2:59 remaining. The drive was capped off by a third Watkins rushing touchdown, this time from the five yard line to extend the Nova lead to 21-3. The score gave the Wildcats a commanding three possession lead under two minutes before halftime.
At the half, the visiting Rams trailed 21-3, after rushing for just nine yards on seven attempts in the second quarter compared to the Wildcats 66 yards on 11 rushes.
The beginning of the second half was similar to much of the first – the Rams went three and out and punted the ball away back to the Wildcats. On the first play of the ensuing drive, fifth-year running back TD Ayo-Durojaiye took a handoff from his own 37 yard line and took it 63 yards for the score. The long run gave the home team a 28-3 lead with 13:05 remaining in the third quarter.
The score remained the same for the duration of the quarter, with the Wildcats holding a dominant 25 point lead over a Rams team who had not scored under 34 points in a game all season up to this point.
“This was an old fashioned get taken out to the woodshed and get slapped around a little bit,” URI head coach Jim Fleming said after the game.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the Rams put together a promising drive, getting into the Villanova red zone and threatening to score their first touchdown of the game. The Rams would not even get a field goal on the board though, as Hill threw an interception on the one yard line to Wildcats fifth-year defensive back Jalen Goodman who returned it to the Rams 18 yard line. A penalty negated 15 yards from the return, but the damage was done for the Rams – the Wildcats had the ball on the opposing 33 yard line with a 28-3 lead and just 10:56 to play.
The following drive for the home team went just as four others had. The Wildcats ran the ball on all seven plays until fifth-year running back DeeWil Barlee got the ball on the six yard line and scored his first touchdown of the year. The score was 35-3 after the Wildcats fifth touchdown, all of which came on the ground.
The Rams would eventually get something to take away from the game.With 6:22 remaining, the visitors put together a 74 yard touchdown drive on just three plays. URI’s second-year running back Jaden Griffin scored the only touchdown of the game for Rhody, a 14 yard rushing touchdown up the middle of the field. Although the Rams had their first touchdown, the PAT went similarly to the rest of the game for URI, with Groft’s attempt blocked by Villanova’s fourth-year defender John Rhodan. After the missed attempt, VIllanvoa led 35-9 with just 5:09 to play.
The Wildcats ran the clock out and took home the victory by a score of 35-9, improving to 3-1 and putting the rest of the conference on notice with a dominant victory over one of the league’s strongest teams.
“We got beat in all three phases of the game,” Fleming said. “Now we gotta restructure and reset ourselves for the next one.”
Rhode Island’s next game is at home at Meade Stadium during family weekend against in-state and future CAA rival Bryant University. Kickoff is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on FloSports.