ORONO — On a perfect fall afternoon, the University of Maine football team played its best game in years. From the first drive of the day, the Black Bears controlled everything on both sides of the ball, earning a 35-7 win over No. 5 Villanova in front of a Homecoming crowd of 6,860 at Alfond Stadium.

It was Maine’s eighth straight Homecoming win, its first victory over Villanova since 2018, and its second win in three games over a ranked opponent. The Black Bears defeated UAlbany, then ranked No. 21, on Sept. 28.

Maine is now 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Coastal Athletic Association. Villanova is 5-2 overall, 2-1 in the conference.

“When things go wrong, maybe it’s they’re causing it to go wrong. They earned what they were getting. We gave them a lot of short fields early on, but they went and made the plays,” Villanova Coach Mark Ferrante said.

Maine forced four Villanova turnovers, all in the first half, and built a 28-0 halftime lead. Given that the Black Bears are unaccustomed to playing with a large lead, Coach Jordan Stevens stressed at halftime to continue trusting the process and play one snap at a time. His team responded with a 12-play, 81-yard drive to open the third quarter, eating 7:34 off the clock and culminating with a 5-yard catch by Montigo Moss from Carter Peevy. The pass was a fade to the left corner of the end zone, and Moss outjumped his defender, giving Maine a 35-0 lead.

“Right then, you know possessions are going to be limited for (Villanova), and we were able to control the clock in the second half and put the game away,” Stevens said.

The play of the game came late in the first quarter. Down 14-0, Villanova lined up for a 50-yard field goal try. A low snap and a muffed hold led to a low kick by Ethan Gettman. Maine’s John Costanza’s blocked the ball, which bounced to Devin Vaught, who took off untouched for a 70-yard return and a 21-0 lead with 57 seconds left in the first quarter.

It was the second big special teams play in as many weeks for Vaught, who blocked a field goal in last week’s loss at Delaware.

This game was won on the line of scrimmage, where the Black Bears pushed the Wildcats around throughout the afternoon. Villanova entered the game averaging just over 205 yards per game on the ground. Maine held the Wildcats to 35 rushing yards and 214 total yards. Forcing Villanova to become one-dimensional, Maine’s pass rush was strong, picking up seven sacks and eight quarterback hurries.

The Black Bears knew if they could stop the run, they could stop the Wildcats.

“The key emphasis was to stop the run and get after their quarterback. Coach Stevens and the other coaches harped on us, keeping that quarterback in the pocket, and everything else was going to follow through. We executed well,” said Maine defensive end Xavier Holmes, who had 1.5 sacks, five hurries, and forced and recovered a fumble.

Under near constant pressure, Villanova quarterback Connor Watkins struggled, completing just 14 of 31 passes for 117 yards, with interceptions to Shakur Smalls and Vaught.

“We came out, and it kind of looked like we’d taken two weeks off, to be honest. I thought we were super flat. They were ready to go. They jumped on us early,” said Watkins. “Their guys up front get after it… Every time you get down big in a game, they know you’ve got to pass the ball. They pin their ears back and just get after it.”

After forcing a three-and-out on Villanova’s first drive of the game, Maine scored quickly, with Peevy (16 of 18 for 173 yards and three touchdowns) connecting with Joe Gillette (four catches, 81 yards) for a 55-yard touchdown pass. After Mason Gilbert ran in the 2-point conversion, Maine had an 8-0 lead with 11:45 left in the first quarter.

“We knew we had chances to make plays, based on what they were doing. Coach Waters (offensive coordinator Mikahael Waters) did a great job all week of really game planning them,” Peevy said. “To start the game off like that was great. It couldn’t have happened to a better player than Joe. I’m glad we could connect on that.”

Maine kicker Joey Bryson recovered a Villanova fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and the Black Bears went 24 yards in two plays, taking a 15-0 lead on Mo Irefin’s 18-yard catch from Peevy.

Maine’s fourth touchdown came 47 seconds into the second quarter and was set up by a Holmes’ sack, strip and fumble recovery at the Wildcats 9. On third and goal, Brian Santana-Fis ran in from a yard out for a 28-0 lead.

“We were able to score points and make them one-dimensional, and they couldn’t just rely on the run game. That played into our strengths, because I think we have some really good pass rushers,” Stevens said.

Villanova broke Maine’s shutout bid with 1:50 left when backup quarterback Tanner Maddocks ran for a 7-yard touchdown.