After weekend of upsets in FCS, Blue Hens know to be wary as Duquesne visits
As an October laced with opportunity awaits them, the Blue Hens were reminded about the perils of preconceived notions during the weekend.
Delaware, which enjoyed an open date Saturday, was not the recipient of unwanted surprise.
Many of their Coastal Athletic Association comrades and FCS Top 25 cohorts were, however.
Three of the top six teams in the STATS PERFORM poll were felled by unranked teams, including CAA favorite William & Mary’s 14-6 league loss at Elon. Delaware hosts CAA front-runner Elon on Nov. 4.
“I don’t know if it was the full moon [on Friday] or what but it was a certainly good weekend to have a bye,” Delaware coach Ryan Carty said Monday.
Two CAA rivals behind the Blue Hens in the rankings also were ambushed. No. 14 New Hampshire, a week after its 29-25 setback at Delaware, lost 54-51 in overtime to Towson. Albany, which has appeared poised to rejoin the CAA elite, vanquished No. 16 Villanova 31-10.
“That’s kind of the CAA that I grew up with and knew growing up in the profession,” said Carty, who coached his first 11 seasons at UNH. “It was every week, something different and crazy was happening, and it was kind of all over the country this week, which is pretty awesome and that’s what makes this conference great, that’s what makes FCS football fun to watch.”
It all pushed Delaware up from 11th last week to ninth in Monday's new Top 25, highest among CAA teams.
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Delaware (3-1 overall, 2-0 CAA) has its final nonconference game Saturday when Duquesne visits Delaware Stadium for a 3 p.m. Parents & Family Weekend tilt that has already sold out.
"All these guys are on scholarship the same way we are," Delaware defensive lineman Jack Hall said. "Someone recruited them. Someone thought they were good enough out of high school. So in that case, any college team can beat any college team on any day. … It's really important to not overlook anyone and when it comes to Duquesne they have a lot of talent."
Between the Duquesne and Elon games, Delaware has CAA bouts with North Carolina A & T (1-3), which won its first game Saturday at Norfolk State 28-6, Hampton (3-1), a 31-14 winner at Richmond Saturday, and those potentially pesky Towson Tigers (2-3).
“Regardless of who you’re going against,” Carty said, “you know week in and week out you’re gonna need to prepare the correct way, you're gonna need to have life on the sideline and energy. And then you’re gonna have to go out there and perform on Saturday.”
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Delaware, on its way to the FCS title game, demolished Duquesne 30-6 in the only previous meeting between the schools here in 2010 when Andrew Pierce, now UD running backs coach, set a still-standing school freshman record with 200 yards rushing.
The Dukes are 2-2 after winning at LIU Saturday in their Northeast Conference opener 31-28. They’ve also beaten Division II Edinboro 49-7 and lost to FBS teams West Virginia 56-7 and Coastal Carolina 66-7.
Jerry Schmitt has logged a 115-80 record in 19 seasons as Duquesne head coach with 2015 and 2018 FCS playoff appearances. A 4-7 record last year was the Dukes’ first under .500 in 10 years.
“Very good football team,” Carty said of the Dukes. “Solid kind of through offense, defense and special teams. Very well-coached. They have really good skill players on offense, fast people, which is always a scary threat. And on defense, similarly, I think their strength is probably their back end. Their corners and safeties run around and play really fast.”
Hen scratch
Delaware has its most impressive Class of 2024 recruit yet after Tyler Burnham, a 6-6, 300-pound offensive lineman from Red Bank Catholic (N.J.), verbally committed last week. Burnham had numerous FBS offers, including from Power-5 programs. … Marcus Yarns is second in FCS with a 9.71-yards-per-carry average and 11th with 109.2 rushing yards per game.
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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: FCS upsets get attention of Delaware Blue Hens before Duquesne game
