For openers, playing CAA game at Stony Brook adds to challenge for Delaware football

Facing a conference foe in a season-opening football game adds extra weight to that outcome.

Delaware’s quest to be among the Coastal Athletic Association's top teams in 2023 would certainly be damaged should the Blue Hens falter in Thursday’s game at Stony Brook.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at LaValle Stadium on Long Island, where previous Delaware teams have won just once in three tries.

"Obviously, if you win it, it's a good one. And if you don't, it's a bad one," said Ryan Carty, starting his second year as UD coach.

"It's great to start out wanting to win the conference. And, obviously, it'd be an uphill battle there if you don't win it. But I think the cool thing about it is that you don't really need much extra motivation going into an opener. Guys are going to be juiced up on both sides of the ball."

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While Stony Brook is coming off a 2-9 2022 finish, its worst in 24 Division I seasons, the Sea Wolves have been bolstered by more than a dozen Division I transfers. They also have a new offensive coordinator in Andrew Dresner, who moved from a similar post at CAA member Maine, and defensive coordinator in Matt Hachmann. He was elevated after Bryan Collins died suddenly in July.

Since joining what was then the Yankee Conference in 1986, Delaware has played a league game in the season opener 14 times and won 10. Six of those games have been on the road, with Delaware prevailing in four, most recently 34-24 at Maine in the fall of 2021.

While that history slightly favors the Hens, it doesn’t reduce the degree of difficulty in the trip to Stony Brook and how Delaware’s first step on its 2023 path will greatly shape where it ends up.

These were Delaware’s biggest wins in previous season openers that were also conference matchups:

Delaware 49, William & Mary 31 (Aug. 30, 2007)

Delaware opened a season that would end in the NCAA championship game by blasting William & Mary 49-31 in Williamsburg on a night that cemented Blue Hen running back Omar Cuff’s legacy and also immediately stamped Joe Flacco as a quarterback to watch. Cuff rushed for 244 yards on 30 carries with six touchdowns. He caught four passes from Flacco for another 52 yards and a TD. The seven touchdowns tied the FCS single-game record. Flacco was 19-for-23 passing for 202 yards as the Hens totaled 483. “An 18-point victory in this league is a big deal,” coach K.C. Keeler said afterward.

Delaware 34, William & Mary 27, 2OT (Sept. 2, 1999)

A sellout throng of 22,038 at Delaware Stadium saw the Blue Hens prevail in a thriller. Butter Pressey zipped 19 yards for a touchdown in the second overtime. The UD defense then thwarted William & Mary on four straight incomplete passes. Matt Nagy passed for 204 yards, Brett Veach had a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and cornerback Ricardo Walker scored a key fourth-quarter touchdown on a 2-yard fumble return for Delaware. “If we hadn’t come up tough in overtime, we’d be in here crying, moaning about getting them next year,” coach Tubby Raymond said afterward.

Delaware 27, New Hampshire 10 (Sept. 6, 1997)

Delaware set the tone for a 12-2 season that extended to the NCAA semifinals by prevailing in its first matchup with New Hampshire in five years. The Wildcats had won the Yankee New England Division the year before but hadn’t earned an NCAA playoff bid, as Delaware had with the same 8-3 record. UNH was picked to repeat but couldn’t cope with the visiting Blue Hens’ powerful Wing-T ground attack. Delaware scored on two of its first three possessions on Greg McGraw’s 6- and 7-yard runs. Brian Ginn passed for 159 yards and Eddie Conti returned a punt 68 yards for a touchdown. The defense limited Jerry Azumah, the league’s 1996 Offensive Player of the Year while rushing for 1,300 yards, to 70 on 17 carries. The Hens also had two interceptions and four sacks.

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Delaware 44, Rhode Island 10 (Sept. 6, 1986)

In the first Yankee Conference game in its history, Delaware sent the two-time defending league champion Rams a message about how its arrival would change things. Rich Gannon passed for 107 yards and a touchdown and ran for another and the Blue Hens piled up 314 rushing yards, including 95 by Fred Singleton, on a hot, sunny afternoon at Delaware Stadium. Kenny Lucas sparked the defensive effort with three interceptions to tie the school record. “I think the defense set the tenor with their hitting,” Gannon said afterward.

Delaware 12, Lehigh 7 (Sept. 26, 1959)

This one predates Delaware’s Yankee/CAA days as it played in the Middle Atlantic Conference from 1958 through 1969, winning six titles. This victory over Lehigh was the closest of any of Delaware’s MAC openers in those championship seasons and propelled the Hens to an 8-1 season, one of its best under College Football Hall of Fame coach Dave Nelson. Delaware had also suffered three straight opening-game losses, the previous two against Lehigh. Fullback Tony Suravitch’s 4-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run closed a 71-yard drive and spelled the difference in a game the host Hens trailed early 7-0.

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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware Blue Hens open 2023 season at CAA football rival Stony Brook