2019 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team

2019 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
	$ – Conference champion; ^ – FCS playoff participant; Rankings from STATS Poll

2019 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football
2019 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football
Conference	Colonial Athletic Association
2019 record	5–7 (3–5 CAA)
Head coach	Danny Rocco (3rd season);
Offensive coordinator	(1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Chris Cosh (3rd season)
Home stadium	Delaware Stadium (Capacity: 16,730)
	Seasons ← 2018 2020 →

The 2019 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team represented the University of Delaware in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They played as members of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). They were led by third-year head coach Danny Rocco, and played their home games at Delaware Stadium in Newark, Delaware, with the stadium undergoing renovations prior to the 2019 season. They finished the season 5–7, 3–5 in CAA play to finish in a tie for ninth place.

Previous season[]

The Fightin' Blue Hens finished the 2018 season 7–5, 5–3 in CAA play to finish tied for third in the conference. Delaware also returned to the FCS Playoffs for the first time since 2010, falling in the first round to CAA rival James Madison.

Coaching staff[]

Name	Position	Year	Alma mater
Danny Rocco	Head Coach	3rd	Wake Forest (1984)
Jared Ambrose	Offensive Coordinator	3rd	Shepherd (2007)
Chris Cosh	Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs	3rd	Virginia Tech (1984)
Bill Cubit	Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs	1st	Delaware (1973)
Levern Belin	Defensive Line Coach	3rd	Wake Forest (1991)
Holman Copeland	Assistant Coach - Corners	1st
Jalen Kindle	Assistant Coach	2nd	Delaware (2017)
Dave Legg	Assistant Coach - Outside Linebackers/Special Teams	1st
Gregory Meyer	Tight Ends Coach	2nd	Buffalo State (2009)
Bill Polin	Offensive Line Coach/Recruiting Coordinator	3rd	Colby (2000)
Clint Sintim	Outside Linebackers Coach	3rd	Virginia (2009)
Alex Wood	Wide Receivers Coach	2nd	Iowa (1978)
Tony Palmieri	Video Coordinator	3rd	North Florida (2009)
Carl Kotz	Director of Football Operations	3rd	Clemson (2003)
Chris Stewart	Strength & Conditioning	3rd	Western Carolina (1998)
Felicia Bergman	Director of Football Advising	3rd	Colorado State (2009)
Jude Moser	Administrative Assistant	10th	University of Delaware (1984)

Preseason[]

CAA poll[]

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 23, 2019, the Fightin' Blue Hens were predicted to finish in fifth place.^[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	James Madison	238 (20)
2	Towson	217 (3)
3	Maine	201 (1)
4	Elon	164
5	Delaware	162
6	Stony Brook	151
7	New Hampshire	109
8	Rhode Island	104
9	Villanova	84
10	Richmond	62
11	William & Mary	58
12	Albany	34

Preseason All–CAA team[]

The Fightin' Blue Hens had two players selected to the preseason all-CAA team.^[1]

Offense

Mario Farinella – OL

Special Teams

Nick Pritchard – P

Schedule[]

Delaware has scheduled 12 games in the 2019 season instead of the 11 normally allowed for FCS programs. Under a standard provision of NCAA rules, all FCS teams are allowed to schedule 12 regular-season games in years in which the period starting with Labor Day weekend and ending with the last Saturday of November contains 14 Saturdays.^[2]

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 29	7:00 p.m.	Delaware State*	No. 22	Delaware Stadium Newark, DE (Route 1 Rivalry)	FloSports	W 31–13	15,894
September 7	7:00 p.m.	at Rhode Island	No. 21	Meade Stadium Kingston, RI	FloSports	W 44–36 ^3OT	8,511
September 14	1:00 p.m.	No. 1 North Dakota State*	No. 18	Delaware Stadium Newark, DE	NBCSP	L 22–47	14,489
September 21	1:00 p.m.	Penn*	No. 20	Delaware Stadium Newark, DE	YouTube	W 28–27	11,782
September 28	12:30 p.m.	at Pittsburgh*	No. 20	Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA	ACCRSN	L 14–17	68,400
October 12	2:00 p.m.	at Elon	No. 15	Rhodes Stadium Elon, NC	FloSports	L 7–42	5,572
October 19	1:00 p.m.	No. 22 New Hampshire	No. 24	Delaware Stadium Newark, DE	FloSports	W 16–10	16,730
October 26	1:00 p.m.	Richmond	No. 19	Delaware Stadium Newark, DE	FloSports	L 25–35	15,308
November 2	2:00 p.m.	at No. 21 Towson		Johnny Unitas Stadium Towson, MD	FloSports	L 24–31	5,522
November 9	1:00 p.m.	Albany		Delaware Stadium Newark, DE	FloSports	L 17–21	13,742
November 16	1:00 p.m.	Stony Brook		Delaware Stadium Newark, DE	FloSports	W 17–10	11,981
November 23	1:00 p.m.	at No. 10 Villanova		Villanova Stadium Villanova, PA (Battle of the Blue)	FloSports	L 33–55	5,319
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

^[3]

Game summaries[]

Delaware State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hornets	3	3	0	7	13
No. 22 Fightin' Blue Hens	3	13	9	6	31

at Rhode Island[]

	1	2	3	4	OT	2OT	3OT	Total
No. 21 Fightin' Blue Hens	0	0	14	8	7	7	8	44
Rams	3	10	0	9	7	7	0	36

North Dakota State[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	10	17	6	14	47
No. 18 Fightin' Blue Hens	5	0	3	14	22

Penn[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Quakers	7	7	7	6	27
No. 20 Fightin' Blue Hens	7	0	14	7	28

at Pittsburgh[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Fightin' Blue Hens	0	7	7	0	14
Panthers	0	10	0	7	17

at Elon[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 15 Fightin' Blue Hens	0	0	0	7	7
Phoenix	7	0	21	14	42

New Hampshire[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 22 Wildcats	0	10	0	0	10
No. 24 Fightin' Blue Hens	0	10	3	3	16

Richmond[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Spiders	21	7	7	0	35
No. 19 Fightin' Blue Hens	7	3	15	0	25

at Towson[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fightin' Blue Hens	7	7	7	3	24
No. 21 Tigers	7	17	0	7	31

Albany[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Great Danes	7	7	0	7	21
Fightin' Blue Hens	0	17	0	0	17

Stony Brook[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Seawolves	0	10	0	0	10
Fightin' Blue Hens	7	3	0	7	17

at Villanova[]

	1	2	3	4	Total
Fightin' Blue Hens	7	10	0	16	33
No. 10 Wildcats	20	14	14	7	55

Ranking movements[]

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ 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	13	Final
STATS FCS	22	21	18	20	20	19	15	24	19	RV
Coaches	23	21	18	20	19	18	15	24	19	RV

References[]

^ ^a ^b Washburn, Rob (July 23, 2019). "James Madison Picked to Capture CAA Football Championship in 2019". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
^ "Bylaw 17.10.5.1: Number of Contests, Maximum Limitations—Institutional" (PDF). 2018–19 NCAA Division I Manual. NCAA. July 2018. p. 273. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
^ "Seven Home Games Highlight Blue Hens' 2019 Slate". UD Athletics. Retrieved October 31, 2018.

[caa_preseason-1] Washburn, Rob (July 23, 2019). "James Madison Picked to Capture CAA Football Championship in 2019". Colonial Athletic Association. Retrieved July 23, 2019.

[2] "Bylaw 17.10.5.1: Number of Contests, Maximum Limitations—Institutional" (PDF). 2018–19 NCAA Division I Manual. NCAA. July 2018. p. 273. Retrieved March 14, 2019.

[3] "Seven Home Games Highlight Blue Hens' 2019 Slate". UD Athletics. Retrieved October 31, 2018.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football
Venues	Frazer Field (1913–1946) Wilmington Park (1940–1952) Delaware Stadium (1952–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games 1974 Grantland Rice Bowl Route 1 Rivalry (Delaware State) James Madison Lehigh Battle of the Blue (Villanova) West Chester William & Mary
Culture & lore	YoUDee "The Delaware Fight Song" Marching Band Winged football helmet
People	Head coaches NFL draftees
Seasons	1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
National championship seasons in bold

2019 Colonial Athletic Association football standings
v t	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
No. 2 James Madison $^		8	–	0		14	–	2
No. 18 Albany ^		6	–	2		9	–	5
No. 15 Villanova ^		5	–	3		9	–	4
New Hampshire		5	–	3		6	–	5
Towson		4	–	4		7	–	5
Maine		4	–	4		6	–	6
Elon		4	–	4		5	–	6
Richmond		4	–	4		5	–	7
Delaware		3	–	5		5	–	7
William & Mary		3	–	5		5	–	7
Stony Brook		2	–	6		5	–	7
Rhode Island		0	–	8		2	–	10

$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll