VILLANOVA AND ILLINOIS STATE SET FOR SEMIFINAL BATTLE

BY ROCK HOFFMAN

College Football Editor

The old adage in football is that defense wins championships, and the Villanova Wildcats are out to prove it. The ‘Cats will host Illinois State Saturday night on Goodreau Field at Villanova Stadium in an NCAA FCS Playoff semifinal game with kickoff at 7:30.

So far, in their three playoff games, Villanova’s defense has held the first (Tarleton State), 11^th (Harvard), and 28^th (Lehigh) ranked scoring offenses at the FCS level to a combined 35 points. The three teams combined to average 36.9 points per game in 2025.

“I’m super proud of the group we have,” said Shane Hartzell. The senior linebacker has been named second team All-America by FCS Football Central and third team All-American by Stats Perform. “We are very resilient. We trust the offense; we just have to do our part and let them do their part.”

VILLANOVA'S ALL-AMERICA LINEBACKER SHANE HARTZELL LOOKS TO LEAD THE WILDCATS TO FCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (Photo courtesy of Villanova Athletics)

The thing that the Wildcats’ (12-2, 7-1 CAA) offense has done as well as any team in the country is hold onto the ball; they are tied for first with only six turnovers. The Redbirds (11-4, 5-3 MVFC) are sixth in the nation with 25 takeaways but have given it back 19 times.

The Redbirds are not intimidated by being on the road for the fourth week in a row. They’ve knocked off No. 16 seed Southeastern Louisiana, top-seeded North Dakota State, and last week they won at UC Davis, which was seeded eighth. Overall, this season, ISU is 8-1 on the road with their only defeat, a 35-3 loss to Oklahoma in the first game of the season.

“It’s a mental toughness thing,” said Redbirds’ head coach Brock Spack about his team’s ability to win on the road. “It’s emphasized throughout the program. It’s an objective for our team to win on the road, and this team has really embraced that.”

The Wildcats counter with a 23-game home winning streak, which is the Nation’s longest active streak.

Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante says there’s no magic to winning in the playoffs.

“We need to play a full four quarters,” said Ferrante, who has guided the Wildcats to their first semifinal appearance since 2010. “Our approach is going to be our approach. Our preparation is going to be our preparation. We have to make sure we play as consistently and as fundamentally sound as we can. We have to play the best four quarters of football we’ve played all year.”