MT hosts Delaware Tuesday night

MT opened as a slight favorite at home, but that has flipped to Delaware as the favorite.

The University of Delaware football team will travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn. on Tuesday, October 13 at 7 p.m. for a Weekday CUSA battle with the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders on CBS Sports Network. This will be the fourth game all-time between the two schools, with UD winning the three previous meetings dating back to 1977.

ABOUT THE FIGHTIN' BLUE HENS
The Fightin' Blue Hens enter the contest 2-3, 0-1 CUSA, coming off a 30-14 home loss to Liberty.

QB Nick Minicucci leads the team with 838 passing yards and five passing TDs. The senior signal caller missed last game against the Flames due to injury. Sophomore QB EJ Archield Jr. made his first-career start in his collegiate debut in place of Minicucci.

RB Jo Silver tops the team with 211 rushing yards on the campaign with one rushing touchdown.

WR Sean Wilson paces the team with 21 catches for 304 yards and three touchdowns. Wilson is tied for fourth in Conference USA in receiving touchdowns and fifth in receiving yards per game (60.8). Wilson and WR Da'Wain Lofton are the only duo in CUSA to each have 250+ receiving yards this season. They're the first Delaware tandem to do it within the team's first four games of a season since Aaron Love and Mark Duncan in 2007.

LB Colin Gallagher leads the Hens with 42 tackles. He's tied for 30th in the country and fifth in Conference USA, while his 8.4 tackles per game are tied for 37th nationally and are fourth in the league.

BAN Blake Matthews has put constant pressure on the quarterback this season, tallying a team-best 4.5 sacks. This is the most sacks in a season by a UD non-defensive lineman since LB Jasawn Thompson recorded 7.0 in 2016. His 4.5 sacks are tied for 16th in the country and best in Conference USA, while his 0.90 sacks per game are tied for 21st in the nation and lead the league. Matthews' TFL numbers are equally impressive, totalling 6.5 tackles for loss on the season, landing him in a tie for 20th most in the FBS, while his 1.30 TFLs per game are tied for 27th most nationally.

Delaware's defense has come up with 16 sacks this season, tied for 11th most in the FBS and one more than any other Conference USA team. It's the most by a CUSA program through five games of a season since Middle Tennessee in 2022 (19).

The Blue & Gold is 15th in the nation with just 23 penalties on the year. Across its five games, UD has only conceded 23 penalties for 226 yards. Delaware is 11th nationally with 4.60 penalties per game. UD ranks first in CUSA in both categories. The Fightin' Blue Hens are one of 19 teams in all of FBS penalized less than five times per game.

Delaware is averaging 21.4 points per game (8th in CUSA), while allowing 25.6 points per game (5th).

UD has recorded 359.8 yards of total offense per game (8th in CUSA), while allowing 389.6 yards per game (7th).

ABOUT THE BLUE RAIDERS
The Blue Raiders are 2-3, 0-1 CUSA, coming off a 55-0 road loss to Kansas.

Middle Tennessee is led by third-year head coach Derek Mason, who owns an 8-21 record with the Blue Raiders. A 10-year head coaching veteran, Mason's career record stands at 35-76, including seven years at the helm of the Vanderbilt Commodores.

Third-year QB Roman Gagliano runs the offense for the Blue Raiders, completing 88-of-156 passes for 913 yards and eight touchdowns on the season.

On the ground, MTSU is led by former Kansas State RB Antonio Martin, who has 385 yards and one touchdown.

Junior WR Cam'Ron Lacy is the team's leading receiver with 335 receiving yards to go with four TDs.

On defense, LB Korey Smith leads the way with 23 tackles.

MTSU is averaging 20.8 points per game (9th in CUSA), while allowing 28.0 points per game (8th).

Middle Tennessee has recorded 306.6 yards of total offense per game (10th in CUSA), while allowing 420.6 yards per game (9th).

Delaware Press Conference
Middle Tennessee Press Conference
Delaware Game Notes

Will Minicucci play??

(10-12-2026 08:12 PM)TOPSTRAIGHT Wrote:  Will Minicucci play??

That's the biggest secret in the entire State of Delaware.....

Delaware freshman QB has a very "deer in the headlights" look to him right now. Not sure how long they will continue to go with him.

Also, very poor fan turnout by MTSU.

Our offense can't do anything with Nick Minicucci....

If Delaware wanted to win and stay alive in CUSA their defense has to play a lot better than this. Some bad tackling.

Great drive there by Delaware. Got Bell some confidence back and gave their defense a needed rest. I think what is tough for these other 3 QB's besides Minicucci is that the Blue Hens don't run it well so it puts a lot of pressure on those quarterbacks.

Bell (the Rookie QB) is starting to look better. Let's see if he can make this two strong drives in a row....

Let's go Hens!

Awful decision by MTSU QB before the half and now Delaware has the lead

(10-13-2026 07:34 PM)Turtle Power 98 Wrote:  Awful decision by MTSU QB before the half and now Delaware has the lead

Yeap. But I'm glad to see that Bell is starting to develop some confidence. Its nice to see a true freshman QB start to step up.

Delaware is starting the 3rd Quarter the same way we started it last time were in the Nashville area a month ago against Vandy....

this is a crazy, back and forth game....

Delaware deserves to lose this one.... my goodness.... Punter puts it on 1 yard line and you put up multiple penalties to give them good field position....

My goodness.....

Now another penalty on the return by the punt returner....

The DU coach made the biggest play of the game for MT. #Unsportsmanship

MT wins it 33-30.

Congrats to MTSU on the win. Bell did as much as Delaware could expect out of a freshman at QB but the Blue Hen defense laid a giant egg. Every time it seemed they took a lead the defense gave it right back. I'm not convinced even with Minicucci that Delaware could win the CUSA title because of their defense. Maybe they need a new D coordinator, I don't know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0uy4lmXvug HIGHLIGHTS.

Raiders played a decent game, but we still have a lot to fix. Go Raiders! Go!