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- NO CONTEST
- Despite rout, UD-DSU game makes sense
- With the flip of a coin, Blue Hens' rout is on
- Like the Hornets, kicker Gaertner has come a long way
- Play of the day
- Player of the day
- Matchup has different feel for in-state players
- Hornets' offense stalls from the start
- Blue Hens defense not to be overlooked in lopsided win
- Rooting interests run the gamut
- Tailgaters play nice -- for now
Video: Fans react to UD-DSU game
- Keeler: 'It was a great season'
- Video: Blue Hens arrive in Delaware
- By any measure, Hens exceeded expectations
- ASU makes big plays against UD
- Playoff run puts a feather in UD cap
- Defense may be Blue Hens' strength next season
- UD duo bow out fighting
- Beating Michigan was great, but Mountaineers did more
- UD takes bumpy route to Chattanooga
- Lavan gets recruiting boost from UD game
- Elsmere official wants crackdown on building colors - 325 Comments
- Delaware real estate market hits wall as home prices slide - 49 Comments
- BLUE HENS DERAILED - 61 Comments
- Classmates mourn teen killed by mail truck - 71 Comments
DOMINATING
Cuff leads Blue Hens past Delaware State, 44-7
NEWARK -- The much-anticipated inaugural football matchup between the state's only NCAA Division I schools made Friday afternoon at Delaware Stadium a grand and memorable occasion.
The spectacle, however, turned out to be the University of Delaware's role in that show.
Delaware put on an epic performance that the first-time visitors from Delaware State could neither subdue nor match but, afterward, were quick to laud.
The Blue Hens' 44-7 victory in the first round of the NCAA Football Championship, formerly Division I-AA, came before a vocal throng of 19,765, the largest to ever see a playoff game at cold and wind-lashed Delaware Stadium.
Knowing the passions present on the historic day -- "An instant rivalry," UD coach K.C. Keeler termed it -- Delaware was determined to undermine whatever emotional edge the Hornets might possess in playing their first game against a school never willing to schedule them in football.
A 20-0 first-quarter Delaware lead put DSU in a drastic situation. A 30-0 halftime cushion practically sealed the deal.
"We knew these guys had a good team," Delaware quarterback Joe Flacco said. "We knew it was going to be a very emotionally charged football game. We were coming off a tough loss [16-10 at Villanova] and I also knew that, with the kind of guys we have in our locker room, that wasn't going to affect us at all.
"It kind of proved all of us right, that we do have those kind of guys in the locker room and to do that feels really good, to come out and get a pretty convincing win over a good football team. It gives you a lot of confidence going into next week.
No. 13-ranked Delaware (9-3) advanced to next Saturday's quarterfinals of the 16-team tournament. It will play the winner of tonight's game at Cedar Falls, Iowa, between top-seeded Northern Iowa (11-0) and Colonial Athletic Association rival New Hampshire (7-4). The quarterfinal game would be at Northern Iowa if UNI wins but at Delaware if New Hampshire advances.
No. 10-ranked Delaware State, making its first I-AA tournament appearance, finished 10-2.
"You can't give a good offensive team repeated opportunities or possessions," Delaware State coach Al Lavan said. "We managed to do that repeatedly."
It was about as well-rounded an effort as Delaware could have imagined.
Omar Cuff, the senior tailback, had a UD single-game-record 288 yards on 38 carries and scored four touchdowns. His 63 career rushing TDs are a Colonial Athletic Association record and his 33 rushing TDs this season set a I-AA mark.
Flacco completed 11-of-20 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown. He never was sacked.
Delaware piled up 536 total yards against a DSU defense that had yielded an average of just 322 yards per game and had not given up more than 21 points to a I-AA foe.
The UD defense held up its end of the bargain, limiting the Hornets to 144 yards of total offense. It was the best defensive effort by Delaware in an NCAA playoff history consisting of 40 games. It also was the fewest yards allowed by a UD defense since The Citadel gained 82 against the Blue Hens in 2000.
"Overall, the game probably shows you how far we've come but how much further we need to go ... but we'll get there," Lavan said.
The game was televised nationally on ESPN and attracted the third-largest crowd ever to witness a I-AA first-round playoff game, leading to a raucous pregame mood.
"It was absolutely electric, and I think all our kids will tell you that, too," Keeler said. "It was just an amazing atmosphere. And then, after that, it was taking care of business.
"We were very fortunate we got the wind [at their back] early in the game, something I really wanted to have. I thought, offensively, if we get some stops and have some short fields, get some points on the board in an emotional ballgame like this, not only because it's Delaware-Delaware State but because it's the playoffs, you can get up on somebody early. Then, all of a sudden, you are as good as people have been saying you are."
Delaware scored on just its fourth play, Flacco scrambling and, at the last moment before he needed to run out of bounds or throw the ball away, passing 32 yards to tight end Rob Agnone for a touchdown.
A pair of 1-yard TD runs by Cuff ended the next two possessions as Delaware took a 20-0 lead. Until then, the Hens had the football in their half of the field just twice but weren't there long, as Flacco threw 38 yards to Aaron Love and DSU was penalized for an illegal substitution.
Also, to that point Delaware State had gotten one first down.
"The fact that we got up on them early was a big plus for us, and I think if that doesn't happen, it's a much different football game," Keeler said. "That's a good football team we played."
The momentum didn't subside when the wind was coming at them, as the Hens took a 30-0 lead into halftime on Jon Striefsky's 22-yard field goal -- set up by Walter Blair's fumble recovery -- and Cuff's 37-yard touchdown breakaway. Cuff had 199 yards in the first half.
DSU had a chance to score just before halftime, but quarterback Vashon Winton's desperate forward pitch on a first-and-goal at the UD 5-yard line was intercepted by middle linebacker Erik Johnson at 1:32.
Delaware drove 91 and 97 yards for touchdowns -- Cuff's 2-yard run and backup Phillip Thaxton's 1-yarder -- on its first two possessions of the second half to go ahead 44-0 and erase the potential for any drama.
Reggie McCoy's 19-yard return of Thaxton's fumble with 12:48 left got Delaware State on the scoreboard. Delaware, which began using its second team in the third quarter, didn't punt until 101¼2 minutes remained in the game.
By then, it was easy to wonder when -- and if -- these two might meet again and if playoff newcomer Delaware State could close the competitive gap on Delaware, a six-time national champion making its 19th NCAA playoff appearance in 35 years.
"[Lavan] and I both agree this is a game we should continue to play, and I think it's great for both of our schools and both of our programs," Keeler said. "The intensity, the passion, the way the fans came out ... I'm looking forward to playing them again sometime."
Contact Kevin Tresolini at 324-2804 or ktresolini@delawareonline.com.Coin toss: Won by Delaware, which deferred to the second half.
Kickoff: 1:36 p.m. UD's Jon Striefsky kicked to DSU's Brandon Hudson. J.T. Laws made the tackle for UD at the Hornets' 17.
First offensive play for DSU: DSU QB Vashon Winton threw incomplete to WR Shaheer McBride.
First punt: DSU's Josh Brite kicked it 22 yards and out of bounds.
First offensive play for UD: UD QB Joe Flacco threw incomplete to WR Kervin Michaud.
First points: Flacco threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Robbie Agnone 1:30 into the game.
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I know it doesn't happen all that often, but I totally agree with you!
I have been stating all weel that this was never about race, but about the fact that these two teams just don't match up. If we played Del State College (I refuse to call it a university) every year and b-slapped them around like this every time, it would certainly be looked at as a race thing eventually.
They simply are not at the same level as UD in every facet, from athletics to academics to social life. It doesn't make sense to play them and no one has the ballz to say that in public. I'm not saying they are bad - they are just not on the same level.
And we all know there's one thing that easily trumps trash talk: results. And just like UD's last MEAC foe in the playoffs, this game was over minutes after it began.
I suggest the MEAC conference demonstrate the same class the Ivy League shows by refusing to take a free playoff spot until their overall program is of the same caliber as the rest of I-AA. Until then, I call upon DSU to STFU.
Admittedly, West Chester is a glorified scrimmage that helps tune the offense in the early season. But given the fact that they did have over 250 yards of offense and 14 points scored (vs. DSU's 150 yards and a lone fumble return against the *entire* second string offense), I would suggest that the DSU apologists shut their pie hole until DSU plays in a real conference.
The CAA has 5 teams in the playoff. The MEAC had one. UD has 6 wins, one tie and no losses to MEAC teams for a good reason. The fact that this same DSU team went undefeated in the MEAC and dropped their pants on national TV should maybe, just maybe, point out that mere membership in FCS/I-AA does not make these two programs comparable.
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