DelState gets what it wanted in FCS playoffs
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
The 10-1 Hornets, who completed their 2007 regular season Saturday with a perfect
8-0 MEAC mark after a 29-13 win over
Howard, now get to face Delaware (8-3) on the
Hens' home field in a first round game that kicks off
the FCS playoffs Friday (1:30 p.m.) in Newark, Del.
Despite being just 45 miles apart and
both schools playing football on the NCAA Div. I-AA, now FCS level, the two have never met
on the gridiron. The NCAA Selection Committee changed that Sunday by pairing the teams in
the first round.
DSU, which won its first MEAC title since 1991, earned its spot in the playoffs by virtue of the automatic bid that goes to the league champion. The Hornets have been the top-ranked team in the BCSP Top Ten since the middle of the season. Fourth-year head coach Al Lavan will be taking them to the playoffs for the first time. Their only loss this season was 38-7 to Kent State back on Sept. 15. Delaware is one of a record five teams from the Colonial Athletic Association to make the 16-team playoff field this year joining CAA members Massachusetts, Richmond, James Madison and New Hampshire. The Hens lost their final two games, 16-10 to unranked Villanova and 62-56 in overtime to Richmond, then ranked ninth nationally. Their other loss was 35-30 to New Hampshire on Oct. 6.
Fifth-year coach K. C. Keeler is returning the Hens, one of the dominant programs in I-AA, to the playoffs for the first time since the 2004 season. The Hens won the 2003 I-AA national title under Keeler.
The schools have played each other in several other sports, just never in football. Just two weeks ago the Delaware women's basketball team defeated Delaware State 54-47 in a first round WNIT game.
An ESPN.com article and an "Outside The Lines" segment on ESPN in September explored why the teams had not met on the gridiron and led to some testy remarks, particularly from coaches and administrators at Delaware State who said they had been frustrated in their attempts to get a regular season game vs. UD on their schedule. Saturday, all the talking will end and the teams can settle things on the field. As if to follow-up on the hype it helped create, ESPN will carry the drama and intrigue of this unique playoff matchup live on its primary network Friday afternoon.
Delaware comes in with a high-powered offense, triggered by 6-6, 230-pound senior quarterback Joe Flacco, averaging 468.1 yards, fourth best in FCS football, and 38.1 points per game, which is eighth best. Flacco has thrown for 3,185 yards (251 of 370, 67.8%) with 17 TDs and only five interceptions. Senior RB Omar Cuff (5-10, 195) has rushed for 1,369 yards and 29 touchdowns (33 TDs total, tops in FCS) and is the linchpin of the Hens' ground game. Cuff is a top candidate for the Walter Payton Award that goes to the best offensive player in the FCS.
DelState has given up just 22 touchdowns all season and has limited opponents to just 16.1 points per game. Linebacker Russell Reeves is the teams' top tackler with 72 stops and five sacks. QB Vashon Winton (1,561 yards, 12 TDs, 5 ints.), RB Kareem Jones (666 yards, 2 TDs) and WR Shaheer McBride (47 rec., 583 yds., 9 TDs) are the Hornets' chief weapons on offense. The Hornets have another weapon in placekicker Peter Gaertner who hit on 19 of 25 field goals including several clutch kicks that tied or won ballgames down the stretch.
© 2007 Azeez Communications, Inc.