One drought ends at Campbell for Blue Hens, who now try to end longer one

For the first time in 13 seasons, Delaware has won eight regular-season games, something that used to be commonplace.

Saturday’s 45-7 win at Campbell accomplished that.

Now the Blue Hens try to end a longer drought.

They have not beaten Villanova at Delaware Stadium since 2004, a string of eight frequently excruciating defeats. Considering Villanova has won 15 of the last 17 overall against Delaware, the Blue Hens are quite aware of the challenge awaiting them this Saturday at 1 p.m.

Delaware (8-2 overall, 6-1 CAA) likely has locked up a spot in the 24-team FCS Tournament.

But the Hens are now in a four-way tie with Villanova (8-2, 6-1), Albany (8-3, 6-1) and Richmond (7-3, 6-1) for first place in the CAA. (Albany playing at Hawaii allowed it to have 12 games).

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Delaware would love to earn a share of its first fall league title since 2010, especially because it might be worth a top-eight NCAA seed and a first-round bye.

“It's a big game, what else can you say?” Delaware quarterback Ryan O’Connor said after the Campbell win Saturday. “We just got to prepare our butts off and come back home ready to play.”

Before Villanova takes center stage, five takeaways from the win at Campbell:

Ryan O’Connor solid

O’Connor may have been a little rusty, coach Ryan Carty suggested, last week against Elon after missing two starts with an injury.

He was more polished at Campbell, completing 19 of 31 passes for 246 yards and four touchdowns with one interception.

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“You can see that he was a lot more comfortable back there, a little less rusty,” Carty said. “I think that was evident.”

O’Connor’s Elon game was also marred by his late fumble as Delaware was driving for a potential tying touchdown.

“It’s been a long process,” he said, “but it feels good to bounce back from last week with the guys. … We had a lot of things that we just left out there last week and we wanted to clean it up and we had a good week of practice. We could have been better today but we did pretty good and it felt good to be back out there.”

Turnovers make a difference

No statistic sways football outcomes more than turnovers. Delaware learned that painfully last week against Elon while giving it away three times to none for Elon in a 33-27 loss.

At Campbell Saturday, Delaware’s three takeaways – Ty Davis’ fumble recovery and two Khalil Dawsey interceptions, one returned 100 yards for a TD – made a major difference.

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“It's the most important thing in football,” Carty said. “There’s nothing else to say about it. I say it every week. If we turn the ball over on offense, we're going to struggle to win the game. And if we don't get takeaways on defense, we will struggle to win the game.

“If we do both of those things, we protect the ball and take it away, it’ll be like [the win at Campbell] because we have firepower to go out there and win. So we have to make sure that we get the ball back.”

Details that mattered

Quincy Watson’s block that prevented O’Connor from getting creamed on his 17-yard pass to Joshua Youngblood for Delaware’s second touchdown.

With Marcus Yarns coming off an injury against Elon and getting just one carry and Kyron Cumby also seeing limited action, Watson’s 11 carries for 40 yards led the Hens.

Chase McGowan’s 20th career sack on a third-and-7 at the UD 34 forced a Campbell punt. Starting at its 3, Delaware then drove for Nate Reed’s 36-yard field goal that made it 24-0.

Delaware is better when it has Chandler Harvin catching passes and he snared three Saturday after being limited by an injury.

Century mark

The 100-yard interception runback by Dawsey was the fourth in Delaware history, joining Johnny Bush’s against Temple in 1972, Glasgow High grad and present Stanford assistant coach Paul Williams' against Hofstra in 1995 and Ricardo Walker’s against Villanova in 2000.

Delaware diamonds

Elijah Sessoms, the second-year tight end out of Dover High, continues to make major contributions with a career-best three catches for 72 yards Saturday.

Wide receiver and Mount Pleasant grad James Collins, who has seen less playing time this year, made a very difficult 24-yard catch from Nick Minicucci to set up the final Delaware touchdown.

Smyrna alum Makhi Jackson had two catches for 45 yards, one of them a 39-yarder that was Delaware's second longest of the day.

And up front, Dover product Bradly Anyanwu and Delaware Military Academy alum T.J. Thomas continue to play key roles for the offensive line.

Have an idea for a compelling local sports story or is there an issue that needs public scrutiny? Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware Blue Hens beat Campbell, face Villanova Wildcats