Rich Gannon’s 2002 MVP season
Gannon wins the NFL MVP and leads Oakland to Super Bowl XXXVII, the first former Blue Hen to start a Super Bowl
Program prestige
Zeitgeist statureRegional Program IVProgram outlook
Program outlook
Delaware has six national titles, a Wing-T offense that defined a coaching era, and two alumni with NFL MVP trophies. It arrived in the FBS in 2025 and immediately won a bowl game it wasn't even guaranteed to be invited to.
Since Jul 3: L 14-30 vs Liberty; L 30-33 at Middle Tennessee; W 61-38 vs Missouri State; W 35-21 at Western Kentucky. 4-4 this season.
Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs
Tubby Raymond coached Delaware for 36 seasons, won 300 games, and perfected the Wing-T — a run-first, deception-built offense that carried the program to national titles in 1971, 1972, and 1979. Three more titles (1946, 1963, 2003) round out six across program history, more than almost any team that's ever made the jump from FCS to FBS.
The quarterback pipeline is the other half of the case: Rich Gannon won the NFL MVP in 2002 and led Oakland to Super Bowl XXXVII, becoming the first Blue Hen to start a Super Bowl. Joe Flacco set twenty school records in just two Delaware seasons before going in the first round in 2008 — and in 2013, threw for three touchdowns with zero interceptions across the entire playoffs, tying Joe Montana's record, on his way to Super Bowl XLVII MVP honors in a 34-31 win over San Francisco. Flacco's own Delaware team had come agonizingly close to a title of its own, losing the 2007 FCS championship game 49-21 to Appalachian State.
Delaware announced the move to Conference USA and the FBS back in 2023, and made the jump in 2025 under fourth-year coach Ryan Carty. The debut season went 6-6 (4-4), and under NCAA transition rules the Blue Hens weren't even supposed to be postseason-eligible — until the sport came up short on six-win teams and handed them an at-large bid anyway. They took it and won: 20-13 over Louisiana in the 68 Ventures Bowl, becoming just the second program ever, after Jacksonville State in 2023, to win a bowl game in its first FBS season. Six national titles, two NFL MVP-caliber quarterbacks, and now a bowl trophy earned in the first year anyone outside the CAA had to actually watch them play.
On the field
Nearly four decades of the Wing-T set a program-defining identity built on misdirection and disciplined run-blocking; the post-Raymond eras have leaned more on quarterback play (Gannon, Flacco), and Ryan Carty's FBS-era offense is the newest chapter still being written.
Delaware has won 54% of its games since 1903 — 66% at home, 39% on the road.
207-175-1 all-time · 86 seasons · 1903–2026
Home
113-58
Away
67-102-1
Neutral
27-15
3 g
1900s
7 g
1910s
4 g
1920s
5 g
1930s
9 g
1940s
8 g
1950s
38%
1960s
57%
1970s
76%
1980s
5 g
1990s
63%
2000s
53%
2010s
61%
2020s
The CFP era
12 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.
Trajectory · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program quality
AP rank (inverted)
CFP appearance
Swipe left for earlier seasons
Delaware’s 2014–2026 record is 75-63.
Ryan Carty
Ryan Carty is in year 2. The methodology is taking shape.
2
years · era
Moments in Delaware history
- Delaware 25, Louisiana Tech 24Nov 8, 2025
- Delaware 44, UConn 41Sep 13, 2025
What this program never forgets
Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.
2003 Division I-AA national championship
Delaware's most recent national title
2007 national championship game loss
Joe Flacco's Blue Hens reach the FCS title game and fall 49-21 to Appalachian State
Heartbreak
2013
Joe Flacco’s Super Bowl XLVII MVP
Flacco throws three touchdowns without an interception across the postseason, tying Joe Montana's record, and leads Baltimore to a 34-31 Super Bowl win over San Francisco
2025 68 Ventures Bowl championship
Delaware beats Louisiana 20-13 in its first-ever FBS bowl game, becoming the second program ever (after Jacksonville State) to win a bowl in its FBS debut season
Moment of the year · 2026
Lost 3-42 at Virginia
Week 4 of 2026. A reckoning loss — the data point the next season must answer.
More in this tab
Ladder finish
Season standing · 2026 · 4-4
Season standing · 2026 · 4-4Delaware is 4-4 — competitive, unranked, not yet bowl-eligible.
Competitive in FBS but not bowl-eligible — the close-loss tier.
FBS competitive
Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Conference
Conference USA standing · 2026
3rd in the Conference USA
Delaware is 3rd in the Conference USA at 2-2. 2 teams above — that's the direct path to the title game.
| # | Program | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacksonville State | 4-0 |
| 2 | Liberty | 4-0 |
| 3 | Delaware | 2-2 |
| 4 | Middle Tennessee | 2-2 |
| 5 | Missouri State | 2-2 |
| 6 | New Mexico State | 2-2 |
| 7 | Western Kentucky | 2-2 |
| 8 | Florida International | 1-3 |
| 9 | Kennesaw State | 1-3 |
| 10 | Sam Houston | 0-4 |
Coaching history
Coaching history
- Hired Ryan Carty
Coordinator lineage
Delaware’s offense and defense, by coordinator
FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.
Offense2025–2026
2025–2026 · Terence Archer
Defense2025–2026
2025–2026 · Manny Rojas
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customs
Rituals
The rituals that anchor a Saturday in this program's world.
The Delaware Wing-T
since 1966
more
Developed by Raymond's predecessor and perfected across Tubby Raymond's 300-win, 36-season tenure (1966-2001), the Delaware Wing-T -- a deceptive, run-first system built on misdirection and fake hand-offs -- won three of the program's national titles (1971, 1972, 1979) and defined Blue Hens football for a generation.
The NFL Quarterback Pipeline: Gannon and Flacco
since 1987
more
Delaware has produced six NFL quarterbacks. Rich Gannon won the 2002 NFL MVP and led Oakland to Super Bowl XXXVII, the first former Blue Hen to start a Super Bowl. Joe Flacco set 20 school records in two seasons at Delaware, became a first-round pick in 2008, and was named Super Bowl XLVII MVP after leading Baltimore to a 34-31 win over San Francisco in 2013.
The First FBS Season and Bowl Win (2025)
since 2025
more
Delaware joined Conference USA and the FBS in 2025 under fourth-year head coach Ryan Carty, finishing 6-6 (4-4). Technically ineligible for the postseason under FCS-to-FBS transition rules, the Blue Hens received an at-large bowl bid anyway due to a shortage of six-win-eligible teams -- and won the 68 Ventures Bowl 20-13 over Louisiana, becoming just the second program ever (after Jacksonville State in 2023) to win a bowl game in its first FBS season.
Cultural identity
Bowls
Recent postseason (2023-2025): 2-1
Most recent: 2025 68 Ventures Bowl — win 20-13. Last 5 postseason: 2-1.
2025 WReddit blowups
r/CFB moments
582
[Postgame Thread] Delaware Defeats Navy 14-7
386
[Postgame Thread] WKU Defeats Delaware 27-24
222
[Postgame Thread] South Dakota State Defeats Delaware 33-3
183
[Postgame Thread] Delaware Defeats Delaware State 35-17
All-time top community posts
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