American college football season
The 2018 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team represented the University of Delaware in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season . They were led by second-year head coach Danny Rocco and played their home games at Delaware Stadium in Newark, Delaware . They are members of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). They finished the season 7–5, 5–3 in CAA play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They received an at-large bid to the FCS Playoffs, where they lost in the first round to James Madison .
Previous season [ ]
The Fightin' Blue Hens finished the 2017 season 7–4, 5–3 in CAA play to finish in a tie for fourth place.
Coaching staff [ ]
Name
Position
Year
Alma mater
Danny Rocco
Head Coach
2nd
Wake Forest (1984)
Matt Simon
Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs
2nd
Eastern New Mexico (1976)
Chris Cosh
Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs
2nd
Virginia Tech (1984)
Erik Campbell
Passing Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers
2nd
Michigan (1988)
Bill Polin
Recruiting Coordinator/Offensive Line
2nd
Colby (2000)
Manny Rojas
Inside Linebackers/co-Special Teams Coordinator
2nd
Liberty (2007)
Clint Sintim
Outside Linebackers/co-Special Teams Coordinator
2nd
Virginia (2009)
Alex Wood
Quarterbacks
1st
Iowa (1978)
Kevin Reihner
Offensive Assistant/Tight Ends
1st
Stanford (2015)
Levern Belin
Defensive Line
2nd
Wake Forest (1991)
Nick Rapone
Cornerbacks
8th
Virginia Tech (1978)
Greg Meyer
Recruiting Assistant/Offensive Quality Control
1st
Buffalo State (2009)
Jalen Kindle
Defensive Assistant
1st
Delaware (2017)
Chris Stewart
Strength & Conditioning
2nd
Western Carolina (1998)
Carl Kotz
Director of Football Operations
2nd
Clemson (2003)
Felicia Bergman
Director of Football Advising
2nd
Colorado State (2009)
Tony Palmieri
Video Coordinator
2nd
North Florida (2009)
Jude Moser
Administrative Assistant
9th
University of Delaware (1984)
Preseason [ ]
CAA Poll [ ]
In the CAA preseason poll released on July 24, 2018, the Fightin' Blue Hens were predicted to finish in third place.[1]
Predicted finish
Team
Votes (1st place)
1
James Madison
241 (21)
2
New Hampshire
206 (2)
3
Delaware
182
4
Stony Brook
169
5
Elon
168 (1)
6
Villanova
164
7
Richmond
127
8
Maine
81
9
Albany
78
10
Towson
74
11
William & Mary
55
12
Rhode Island
39
Preseason All-CAA Team [ ]
The Fightin' Blue Hens had five players selected to the preseason all-CAA team.[1]
Offense
Kani Kane – RB
Charles Scarff – TE
Mario Farinella – OL
Defense
Tony Reeder – LB
Nasir Adderley – S
Award watch lists [ ]
Schedule [ ]
Date Time Opponent Rank Site TV Result Attendance 7:00 p.m. Rhode Island No. 15 CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLiveL 19–2117,945
September 8 3:30 p.m. Lafayette * Delaware Stadium Newark, DE MASN W 37–012,781
September 15 3:30 p.m. Cornell * Delaware Stadium Newark, DE BHAA W 27–1014,511
September 22 2:00 p.m. at No. 1 North Dakota State * ESPN+ L 10–3818,883
October 6 3:00 p.m. at Richmond NBCS WA W 43–288,217
October 13 3:30 p.m. No. 5 Elon Delaware Stadium Newark, DE NBCS PHIL W 28–1619,209
October 20 3:30 p.m. at New Hampshire No. 24 CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLive W 38–1411,992
October 27 3:30 p.m. No. 10 Towson No. 21 Delaware Stadium Newark, DE FCS /FSGO W 40–3614,593
November 3 3:30 p.m. at Albany No. 13 UAlbany Live Events[4] W 21–163,182
November 10 1:00 p.m. at No. 12 Stony Brook No. 11 CBSI Digital/CBS SportsLive L 3–176,667
November 17 12:00 p.m. Villanova No. 17 NBCS PHIL L 21–4218,752
November 24 3:00 p.m. at No. 6 James Madison * No. 21 ESPN3 L 6–207,297
*Non-conference game HomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time
[5]
Regular season [ ]
Rhode Island [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Rams
0
7
14
0
21
No. 15 Blue Hens
0
10
3
6
19
This marks the first time Delaware opens with a conference game since 2007 (49–31 win at William & Mary ).
Lafayette [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Leopards
0
0
0
0
0
Blue Hens
14
7
7
9
37
Cornell [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Big Red
3
0
0
7
10
Blue Hens
7
7
0
13
27
at North Dakota State [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Blue Hens
0
0
0
10
10
No. 1 Bison
28
7
3
0
38
This marks Delaware's first trip west of the Mississippi River since the 2010 National Championship (a 19–20 loss to Eastern Washington ).
This marks Delaware's first game against a MVFC opponent since 2010 (a 26–3 win over South Dakota State ).
This marks Delaware's first ever regular season game west of the Mississippi River, and the first regular season game in the Central Time Zone since 1981 (a 38–14 win at Western Kentucky ).
at Richmond [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Blue Hens
19
14
10
0
43
Spiders
7
3
6
12
28
Elon [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
No. 5 Phoenix
7
3
6
0
16
Blue Hens
0
7
7
14
28
at New Hampshire [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
No. 24 Blue Hens
10
7
14
7
38
Wildcats
0
7
0
7
14
Towson [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
No. 10 Tigers
5
13
10
8
36
No. 21 Blue Hens
0
6
21
13
40
at Albany [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
No. 13 Blue Hens
0
12
3
6
21
Great Danes
0
3
7
6
16
at Stony Brook [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
No. 11 Blue Hens
0
0
0
3
3
No. 12 Seawolves
0
3
7
7
17
Villanova [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
Wildcats
14
7
7
14
42
No. 17 Blue Hens
7
0
14
0
21
FCS Playoffs [ ]
at James Madison–First Round [ ]
1
2
3
4
Total
No. 21 Blue Hens
0
3
3
0
6
No. 6 Dukes
3
9
8
0
20
Ranking movements [ ]
Ranking movementsLegend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll
Pre
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Final
STATS FCS
15
RV
RV
RV
RV
RV
RV
24
21
13
11
17
21
24
Coaches
16
RV
RV
RV
RV
RV
RV
25
21
16
12
18
23
23
Players drafted into the NFL [ ]
Round
Pick
Player
Position
NFL Club
2
60
Nasir Adderley
S
Los Angeles Chargers
References [ ]
^ a b Washburn, Rob (July 24, 2018). "James Madison Favored To Win Fourth Straight CAA Football Title In 2018" . CAA Sports. Retrieved August 30, 2018 .
^ "FCS football: 2018 Buck Buchanan Award watch list announced" (Press release). NCAA. August 2, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2018 .
^ "Nine added to Buck Buchanan Award Watch List" . STATS. November 8, 2018. Retrieved November 8, 2018 .
^ "Upcoming Live Events" . The Official Athletics Site of the University of Albany. Archived from the original on October 14, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018 .
^ "Football - 2018 Schedule" . Delaware Athletics. Retrieved July 10, 2018 .
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