2025 PSU vs. Villanova

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General Game Information

PSU-VILLANOVA FINAL GAME STATS LINK

PSU-VILLANOVA GAME FLOW & SUMMARY

• Game Three of 2025 season—This is third and final non-conference game of the season. PSU has opened 2-0 while Villanova is coming in 1-0 having just beaten Colgate 24-17 in its opener on Sept. 6th—Wildcats QB Pat McQuaide threw for 299 yards, 1 TD and he rushed for 1 TD. Villanova is technically the first ranked opponent for PSU this fall—the Wildcats come into this game ranked #11 in the FCS Coaches Poll. Villanova features FBS’s oldest current player in 33-year-old 6th year senior punter, Luke Larsen of Australia, who had previously been at East Carolina (2020-24). Penn State coach James Franklin can match Rip Engle as the second winningest Penn State coach all-time with his 104th win in this game against Villanova. PSU’s Big Ten season will open at home Sept. 27th with Oregon in the Whiteout Game after the first Bye Week (Sept. 20).

• 2005 Big Ten Champions Honored at this game: This is the 20th anniversary reunion for Penn State’s second Big Ten Championship team. The 2005 Nittany Lions were 11-1, 7-1 with a last second two-point loss to Michigan that left them tied with Ohio State for first overall in the conference, and just out of reach of the BCS National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl. They finished 3rd in the final rankings following a 26-23, 3-OT victory over Florida State in the 2006 Orange Bowl which was also Joe Paterno’s final meeting with Bobby Bowden. The 2005 team was also be honored with a cover photo on the Beaver Stadium Pictorial game day program. Note: Among the members of the 2005 team in attendance was wheelchair-bound Tim Shaw LB who has been battling ALS.

• Last PSU Game: Penn State 34 FIU 0 (first PSU shutout victory since 56-0 win over Kent State in 2024), PSU has recorded at least one shutout in each of the past five seasons and is the only FBS team to do so (the last time this happened at Penn State was in the stretch of seasons from 1972 to 1976).

• This week’s rankings: AP Poll #2 (AP Top 5—Ohio State, PSU, LSU, Oregon, Miami), Coaches Poll #2 (Coaches Top 5—Ohio State, PSU, Georgia, LSU, Oregon)

• 11th meeting with Villanova all-time: PSU is 6-3-1 vs. the Wildcats in a series that dates to 1902 and has seen all but one of the games (a neutral site 1951 loss) played in State College. Penn State is 1-0 vs. Villanova since it began play at the FCS level in 1985 (the 2021 win at Beaver Stadium). Known scheduled games in 1906, 1952, 1953 and 1983 were cancelled for various reasons.

• Second meeting ever with Villanova at Beaver Stadium: The 2021 PSU 38-17 win has been the only game played between the two schools at Beaver Stadium although it was not the first one scheduled to be played there. A 1983 game in State College was cancelled when Villanova dropped its Division-1 football program after the 1980 season and did not revive it until 1985. As of the 2021 game, Villanova became only one of 3 teams to have played Penn State in all 3 of its historic on-campus “stadium” locations-Old Beaver Field, New Beaver Field, and Beaver Stadium (Pitt and West Virginia are the others). The 2021 game was also the first one played by the two since Penn State College became Penn State University after the 1953 football season.

• The last meeting in 2021: The 38-17 win over the Wildcats was the first game between the two in 70 years dating to a 1951 Penn State loss in a game played at Allentown High School Stadium, and it ended a 3-game PSU losing streak that dated to a 1935 victory at New Beaver Field. In 2021, Sean Clifford led an offensive aerial show becoming only the second PSU Quarterback to pass for over 400 yards in a game. Sean was 19 of 26 for 401 yards and 4 TDs. Three of the Clifford TD passes were over 50 yards—52 yards to Jahan Dotson on the first play from scrimmage, 52 to Parker Washington (1 of his 2 TD catches), and 83 yards to Keandre Lambert-Smith. Penn State totaled 509 yards in offense in the game. Clifford’s 401 passing yards is second only to Christian Hackenberg’s 454 yards passing in 2014’s season opening win over Central Florida in Dublin, Ireland. The 401 yards by Clifford are a Beaver Stadium and Penn State “North American” record. The 2021 game is also remembered for the “volleyball set” tip drill interception which saw Tariq Castro-Fields outleap the Nova wide receiver and tip the ball directly to Ji’Ayir Brown for the pick at the PSU 6-yard line killing off a potential Wildcat scoring threat. Mark Ferrante was the Villanova coach in 2021 and he is still leading the Wildcats in his 9th season there. He is expected to repeat his 2021 gameplan where the Wildcats stuffed the Penn State running game.

• Historic game notes: The 1935 game at New Beaver Field, the last Penn state win in this series prior to 2021, pitted Bob Higgins and the Nittany Lions against Harry Stuhldreher who was in his final season as head coach at Nova. Penn State beat the Wildcats, 27-13 in what was considered a mild upset. Stuhldreher is best remembered as the quarterback of the legendary Four Horsemen of Notre Dame in the 1920’s. The 1935 Villanova team also featured halfback Andy Stopper who would later become a high school coaching legend in Pennsylvania best remembered for developing future Penn State halfback, and Pro Football Hall of Famer, Lenny Moore at Reading High School in the early 1950’s. The 1949 Villanova-Penn State game was the last to be played at New Beaver Field. A testy on-field experience between the players in 1951 is believed to have played a role in the cancellation of the 1952 game at Beaver Field and the 1953 game tentatively scheduled at Villanova. The 1949 game was also marked by pre-game vandalism of the Nittany Lion Shrine and the field itself. Newspapers reported that “blueish” paint was splashed on the Shrine, and the letter “V” was burned with gasoline into the field at the 50-yard line near the visitor’s bench. State lost that game, 27-6.

• The debut of the modern plastic helmet: The white plastic-shell suspension helmet with the classic navy-blue stripe running over the center from the nose to the back of the neck was first used by the Nittany Lions in the 1949 Penn State-Villanova game which was the season opener that year. The helmet style, with some variations such as numbers on the sides, has become an iconic symbol of Nittany Lion football over the past 76 years.

• First meeting with Villanova as a member of the FCS Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) under its current name. PSU’s 2021 game with Villanova was played under the CAA’s previous long-time name, the Colonial Athletic Assocation (FCS). The CAA went “Coastal” in 2023. Villanova will move its football program to the FCS Patriot League beginning with the 2026 season.

• First meeting with an FCS opponent since 2023 home game with Delaware, a 63-7 PSU win.

• Second 3:30pm ET kick for PSU in 2025. Season opening win over Nevada was also 3:30pm EDT kick.

  TV Information

• FS1 Gameday Announcers: Connor Onion and Mark Helfrich

• First TV game on FS1 since 2023 home game with Rutgers, a 27-6 PSU win.

• Second non-traditional network TV game of the 2025 season. Week 2 win vs. FIU was televised on BTN which also televised the 2021 Villanova game.