Ragin Dave's Delaware Fighting Joe Flacco Preview
The Delaware Fighting “Joe Flacco’s” or Blue Hens. Here is some history on them. 2025 is their first year in FBS football as a member of CUSA, previously they were a member of the CAA in FCS from 2007-2024. They are coached Ryan Carty who was the QB at Delaware from 2002-2006. Carty was a backup for the Blue Hens and was the projected starter but lost the job to Joe Flacco. Before getting the job at Delaware he was the OC/QB coach at Sam Houston State from 2018-2021 and held numerous jobs as a member of the New Hampshire football staff. The OC at Delaware is Terence Archer who came with Carty from SHSU. The DC at Delaware is Manny Rojas who has spent most of his career in the FCS ranks.
Delaware is 6-6 on the season and 4-4 in conference, they went 5-1 at home but a struggle at 1-5 on the road. They started the season with a convincing win at home vs rival Delaware State, then went on the road and lost to Dion Sanders and Colorado 31-7. They then had a very good win vs UConn at home 44-41 in OT and then beat FIU 38-16 in Miami for their only road win. They lost a one close to WKU at home and Jacksonville State on the road. They got a win vs Middle at home and then lost badly to Liberty on the road. They had another good win vs La Tech at home and ten lost to SHSU in a very close one on the road. They finished the season with a loss to Wake Forest and then a win at home vs UTEP to get bowl eligible.
Offensively this is a team that averages about 30 points per game and is very good in the passing game, but not great in the running game, only averaging about 3.7 yard per play on the ground. They only average about 115.9 yards per game on the ground, but they make up for it in the air, where they average over 300 yards per game.
QB
This team is led by Nick Minicucci (6’2” 215) at QB who has started all 12 games for them. Minicucci is a Junior from NJ who has thrown for 3507 yards and 22 TD’s vs only 7 INTs this season completing 63% of his passes. Minicucci is capable with his legs as he is the 3rd leading rusher on the team with 372 yards on the season and 10 TD’s.
RB
On the ground they are led by Jo Silver and Viron Ellison JR who make a pretty good combination of backs. They are split between the two, with Silver having 105 carries for 536 yards and 4 TD’s while Ellison had 108 carries for 422 yards and 4 TD’s as well, he is a transfer from Tulsa. Both guys are stout as they are 5’10 200 and 6’0 195, respectively. Both guys are pretty good receiving out of the backfield, Silver has 28 catches for 220 yards and a TD, Ellison has 20 catches 187 yards and 2 TDs.
WR/TE
In the passing game they are led by two good receivers, Sean Wilson who has 59 catches for 787 yards and 2 TD’s and Kyre Duplessis who has 56 catches for 764 yards and 5 TD’s, he is a transfer from Coastal. But they have other capable guys as well, as they have 4 other receivers with over 20 catches on the season and a TE, Elijah Sessoms with 22 catches for 190 yards and 2 TDs. They are deep at receiver.
OL
They are young on the OL, with 2 Sophomore’s and 1 Freshman, although that Freshman is Noah Rosahac a Transfer from Syracuse. The other two guys are RS Junior Steven Demboski at Center and Grad Senior Fintan Brose at LG.
DEFENSE
They line up mostly in a 3-3-5 defense, they do give up some points as they have given up 32.5 PPG this season and allot of that is on the ground as they give up 164.3 ypg. But they also give up 246.8 yards through the air, so their defense does have the ability to be suspect. And they have a hard time getting off the field on 3rd down, giving up other 40% on 3rd down conversions.
DL
Jack Hall and Noah Matthews make up the starters at LDE and RDE, Matthews is a transfer from Kentucky and in the middle is the run stopper Keyshawn Hunter who is a Grad transfer from ODU. Hall and Matthews combined for 32 and 25 tackles respectively with only 1 sack from the DE position. Ironically the NT Hunter has 3 sacks from his NT position and led the team there, they don’t get a ton of pressure on the QB as they only have 24 sacks on the season.
LB
Junior Gavin Moul is a beast at MLB with 104 tackles on the season with 1.5 sacks and 1 FR for a TD. But he gets help from Blake Matthews and Marje Mulumba at the two OLB positions. Matthews has 51 tackles on the season and Mulumba has 48 with 1 sack.
DB
The safety position might be the best on the defense as Mysonne Pollard and KT Seay makeup a formidable duo. Seay has 84 tackles on the season with 3 INTS and Pollard has 64 tackles on the season with 4 INTs. Nate Evans is a transfer from NC State and the other corner is Kshaw Cox. The other DB is Ali Kahil RS Sophomore Transfer from Boston College. Pollard will bounce from Nickleback to Safety from time to time.
ST
PK—Nate Reed is perfect on the season in XP, and 16-21 in FG attempts. He is solid and has a long of 51 on the season. He is 6-9 from 40-49. Their Punter is Brenden Lach who is only averaging 39.5 yards per punt this season with 1 TB and 14 of his 42 punts inside the 20. Nate Reed is the kickoff specialist as well and the majority of his KO’s are not returned. They do not return allot of punts, but Kyre Duplessis and Jake Thaw have split that duty, both only returning 3 punts this season. Duplessis has had the most success with 1 of those 3 for a 68-yard TD, but the other two have accounted for only 5 yards total while Thaw has 3 returns for 21 yards. The main guy on KO returns is Mysonne Pollard, who has 12 returns for an average of 27.25 yards per return.
Overall, this is a good matchup for us, and I think it will be a good game. I see the Cajuns winning this 31-27 but I think it will be close all game.
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Re: Ragin Dave's Delaware Fighting Joe Flacco Preview
Originally Posted by MarlinMan3
