By most measures, Delaware’s first season in its transition to the FBS has been a success: The Blue Hens are 9-1 overall, went undefeated at home, and are scoring 35.6 points per game to rank 15th in the FCS while playing three quarterbacks considerable minutes in different stages of the season.
FCS playoff-ineligible Delaware, for all those high points, has no postseason to play for – making No. 15 Villanova (8-3) perhaps the more obviously incentivized team in Saturday’s Battle of the Blue.
Yet the Hens have everything on the line in their final game as an FCS member. Fittingly, their last CAA matchup is against the rival that has plagued UD for years, agonizing fans to the point that the FCS exit feels incomplete without a Delaware revenge on Villanova.
The Wildcats have won 11 straight fall meetings in the Battle of the Blue, but Delaware’s 2020 victory in the series, held in spring 2021, counts just like the others. The Blue Hens’ issue is that they lack a companion win to that spring triumph, sputtering in the rivalry for the better part of two decades. VU has taken 11 of the last 13 battles and 16 of the last 18.
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Adding to the drama of Saturday’s BOTB, Delaware can heal those wounds felt generationally in Newark only by securing permanent ownership of the game’s trophy. The indefinite possession of the painted football commemorating the rivalry is the apparent reward for this week’s winner given that the Hens and ’Cats appear unlikely to schedule non-conference and cross-subdivision games in the foreseeable future.
The culmination of the rivalry, then, gives the game a championship feel, which is a boost to spirits on both sides. As if they needed one.
“It always has a little bit more to it,” Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante said Monday. “And maybe just the fact that this is potentially the last time might just add a little bit of emotion.
“But sometimes, you know how that is, the emotion lasts for a first possession or two, and then you gotta get back to business and focus on the task at hand.”
Villanova’s task is relatively straightforward, as a win over Delaware assures the Wildcats of an at-large berth in the playoffs at 9-3. A loss would drop Nova to 8-4, which probably would not move it out of the bracket depending on the bubble, but would affect first-round placement for the ’Cats. Despite a Delaware fan’s dream scenario of knocking out Villanova to end the year, Nova has potentially already done enough to advance.
The Wildcats are doing it with defense, allowing only 17.9 PPG, good for ninth in the country. Delaware is nearly identical to Villanova in total defense, as the Blue Hens yield 315.4 yards per game to Nova’s 315.2. Both teams rank in the top 25 nationally in the category.
“I don’t think their defense has weaknesses,” Delaware head coach Ryan Carty said Monday about Villanova. “I think that’s the key, is they’re very sound everywhere. Outstanding in the back end, have the ability to press you and lock you down, not a lot of deep balls being thrown on them minus Monmouth [last week]…
“Up front, they do such a nice job against the run on first and second down that they put you into really hard [to] manageable third downs.”
Villanova’s pass defense is No. 2 in the CAA and first among remaining CAA playoff contenders at 175.5 YPG. Delaware is led in the air lately by conference Co-Offensive Player of the Week QB Nick Minicucci. Minicucci, presuming he gets the start on Saturday in the event that Ryan O’Connor remains out, will look to find WRs Phil Lutz (81.6 YPG) and Jake Thaw.
Minicucci is a threat to run, but Delaware’s chief runner is Marcus Yarns at RB. Yarns is an East-West Shrine Bowl invitee playing in his final college football game at Villanova. Nova has its own diverse ground game marked by the contributions of David Avit (69.5 YPG) and Isaiah Ragland (50.8).
The Wildcats enter their Senior Day coming off a 40-33 loss at Monmouth, which boasts a fearsome offense. Villanova’s defense and team at large are sure to want a quick flush by downing Delaware – one last time.
“I’m anticipating a pretty good crowd,” Ferrante said. “I think some of the Delaware folks maybe will come up and support their side of the guys, and I know we’ll have a good turnout like we usually do for a home game, especially a Delaware home game… I think this one will have a really nice vibe to it.”
The symbolism is hard to deny in this regional finale in the late-season cold. Delaware’s trip, the one concluding its FCS era, is right up the road to Villanova before long excursions to warmer Conference USA destinations become the norm.
