Villanova Football to Host FCS Semifinal Matchup

The Wildcats will play one more game at Villanova Stadium in 2025.

After upsetting No. 4 Tarleton State in Texas on Saturday, Dec. 13, No. 12 Villanova got a lucky break when unseeded Illinois State knocked off No. 8 UC Davis 42-31, setting up an FCS semifinals showdown between the Wildcats and the Redbirds. As the higher seed, the Wildcats, now winners of 11 games in a row, will get to host.

That game, set for broadcast on ESPN2, will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20, one day after Villanova’s fall semester concludes at the end of exam week. The winner will advance to the FCS National Championship game at Vanderbilt’s FirstBank Stadium in Nashville, set for Monday, Jan. 5.

This marks the Wildcats’ fourth-ever appearance in the national semifinals, and their first since 2010, when they fell to Eastern Washington to end their chance at a repeat. Their first and only other time hosting a semifinal game came the year prior, when they won their first championship in program history.