VILLANOVA, Penn. – The Massachusetts football team learned Saturday afternoon how difficult it is to defy history, especially when things are not going well to begin with.

Faced with the reality that the away team in its series with Villanova has won only three of the previous 18 meetings, and none since 1978, the struggling Minutemen didn’t even come close to challenging times past, falling to the Wildcats 47-13 on the Astroturf of Villanova Stadium.

“Well, it was another one of those trips for UMass to come down to Villanova,” said Head Coach Mark Whipple, amidst a bout of sarcasm. “So we didn’t want to disjoint history by any stretch of the imagination.”

The defeat promises UMass (1-6, 1-4 Atlantic 10) its first losing season since the Minutemen’s 2-9 1997 campaign, the term before Mark Whipple was hired as head coach. With the win, the Wildcats (5-2, 4-1 A-10) remain near the top of the conference standings, behind only Hofstra (6-1, 7-1 overall) and Rhode Island (5-1, 7-1).

Senior Brian Westbrook, who managed only 52 rushing yards and 31 receiving yards in his team’s 38-17 loss to UMass last year in Amherst, led Villanova with three touchdowns and 199 all-purpose yards, bringing him to within just 15 yards of the Division I-AA record (8,377 yards) in that category, held by current Chicago Bear and former New Hampshire star, Jerry Azumah.

Westbrook carried the ball 23 times for 103 yards, caught six receptions for 40 yards, and added 56 more in return yardage.

With 5:13 left in the third quarter and Villanova backed up on its own 2-yard-line, sophomore defensive end Valdamar “T” Brower charged Wildcat quarterback Brent Gordon from the right side and knocked his pass attempt into the air. Just one second later, Brower came down with the ball in the back of the endzone to bring UMass back to within striking distance of the Wildcats, down 27-13 with over a quarter left to play.

“It was a twist by the defensive line, I got my hands up and it just fell into my arms,” said Brower, who sparked his defense to stop Villanova on its ensuing possession, and give the Minutemen the ball on their own 20 with 3:34 left in the third stanza.

But Brower’s first career touchdown was the final underscore of the afternoon for the Maroon and White.

Two minutes later, the Wildcats’ Jamison Young, A-10 Defensive Player of the Week, sacked Matt Guice on his own 28-yard-line and forced the redshirt freshman to fumble the ball back to 13-yard-line. Villanova’s Kwesi Solomon retrieved it and rushed to paydirt to give the Wildcats a 33-13 lead, negating Brower’s heroics.

“We just never got anything back from there,” said Whipple, who fell to 2-2 all-time versus the ‘Cats. “It was just kind of like ‘let’s just get out of here,’ because it wasn’t going to happen at that point. Villanova took advantage of our mistakes, like a veteran team should.”

Villanova then broke the game wide open when Jason McMillon picked off Guice, who practiced little last week and played with seven stitches in his right thumb, on UMass’ 31-yard line and brought it back to the Minuteman 7-yard-line. On the next play, Westbrook broke up the middle for the touchdown, and the 40-7 Wildcat advantage. Westbrook added the final tally of the game with 11:43 left in the final quarter, with a 3-yard scoring scamper.

Gordon, who went 16-for-27 for 180 yards and three scores, found Brian White on a 10-yard touchdown toss to end the game’s opening drive, but UMass answered the early call, engineering a 10-play, 56-yard scoring drive, capped by a 3-yard Kevin Quinlan tallying rush. That was, however, the Minutemen’s only offensive marking of the game.

The Wildcats scored three more touchdowns to end the first half with a 27-6 lead. With 35 seconds left in the first stanza, Gordon snuck in the endzone from one yard out. He then found Westbrook two minutes into the second quarter, over the top, streaking down the left sideline for a 22-yard score. Gordon found Phil DiGiacomo from 2-yards out in the front right corner of the endzone to finish off the first half scoring.

Twice in the second quarter, Whipple called for his offense to go for it on fourth down. But it was for naught on each try, and both stops led to Villanova touchdowns.

“[Whipple’s] style is to take chances,” Villanova Head Coach Andy Talley said. “Coming into the game he must have felt on paper that we were better. I have a feeling he just said ‘you know, we’re going to have to take extreme measures today to get this team.’

“Because if he hits a couple of those, and keeps forcing us to score after he scores, then it’s a game and anything can happen.”