The Basics
Team: Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens
Location: Newark, Delaware
Enrollment: 19,071
Head Coach: Ryan Carly (31-16)
Record: 5-5
Wins: Delaware St, UConn, FIU, MTSU, LA Tech
Losses: Colorado, WKU, JSU, Liberty, Sam Houston
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Transfer portal rank: 143 (4 3-stars)
It is the final home game of the 2025 football season, and the Deacs are taking on a Delaware team that has done pretty well for their first ever season in FBS. At 5-5, the Fightin’ Blue Hens would be playing for bowl eligibility on Saturday if they weren’t on year 2 of their FBS transition period, making them ineligible for post season play. Still, a road win over a Power 4 team would be huge for their program, so the Deacs cannot afford to overlook Delaware this weekend.
Offense
Points per game: 28.2 (64th)
Yards per game: 419 (40th)
Run/pass split: 43 / 57
Rush yards per game: 110.8 (117th)
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Pass yards per game: 308.2 (5th)
3rd down conversions: 43.2% (42nd)
Sacks allowed per game: 2.30 (91st)
Turnovers per game: 1.6 (113th)
The obvious thing that jumps out about the Delaware offense is the passing game. The Blue Hens are currently 5th in the nation with 308 passing yards per game. Starting QB Nick Minicucci is 2nd in the nation with 3,056 yards through the air so far, and he leads CUSA in passing attempts, completions, yards, and yards per game. In 10 games this season, Minicucci has completed over 62% of his passes with 18 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.
From the few games I have seen, this is definitely not a dink and dunk passing offense–Delaware is looking to stretch the defense vertically and take deep shots every time they see an opportunity. The philosophy seems pretty similar to the Wake Forest offense when Sam Hartman was under center—if the Blue Hens get single coverage down the field, Minicucci is going to throw the long ball and trust his receiver to make a play.
Like with Hartman, this has worked for Delaware because they have great wide receivers. Sophomore Sean Wilson has been the go-to guy so far this season, leading CUSA with 714 receiving yards on 50 catches.
Not far behind him is Coastal Carolina transfer Kyre Duplessis, who has caught 48 passes for 639 yards and 5 touchdowns. Obviously the level of opposing defenses is different, but these two both have 10+ more catches and almost 200 more yards than Wake’s #1 receiver, Chris Barnes, this season.
The run game is much less of a threat. Since running for 247 yards against UConn in the 3rd game of the season, Delaware has not cracked 150 yards on the ground. In their last 5 games, the Blue Hens have failed to rush for over 100 yards a single time and are averaging 76 rushing yards per game and a measly 2.6 yards per carry. They have scored just 6 rushing touchdowns combined over those 5 games. While QB Minicucci has only run for 197 yards on the season, he leads the team with 9 rushing touchdowns—the Wake Forest defense will want to be wary about him using his legs around the goal line.
While this will be the most pass-centric offense the Deacs have faced this season, Wake is currently a top 10 pass defense in the nation by adjusted EPA/play, so I don’t expect them to give up a ton of easy completions to the Blue Hens. I doubt Delaware has faced pass rushers as talented as Langston Hardy (5.5 sacks) or Nuer Gatkuoth (5 sacks) this season, so hopefully they will be able to get into the backfield and put plenty of pressure on Minicucci on passing plays.
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Defense
Points allowed per game: 30.7 (113th)
Yards allowed per game: 398.7 (96th)
Rush yards allowed per game: 168.3 (99th)
Pass yards allowed per game: 230.4 (86th)
3rd down defense: 41.3% (8th)
Sacks per game: 1.90 (80th)
Turnovers Forced per game: 0.8 (120th)
On the defensive side, the Deacs are finally getting to play another team that isn’t great against the run! The Blue Hens are currently giving up 168.3 rush yards per game and are ranked 116th out of 136 teams in run defense by EPA/Play. By that metric, Wake hasn’t played a team ranked worse than 100th since the Oregon State game where Demond Claiborne ran for 144 yards and 9 yards per carry. In their 10 games this season, half of Delaware’s opponents have run for over 150 yards, and Delaware St., Jacksonville State, and Liberty all ran for over 200 yards on the Blue Hens. This bodes well for the Wake Forest offense, which is pretty clearly much better at scoring points when they can run the ball.
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A couple of guys on the Delaware defense that could give Wake some troubles are linebacker Gavin Moul and DB KT Seay. Moul is among the top tacklers in the nation this season with 85 combined tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks. Seay is just behind him with 72 tackles, 5 tackles for loss and 2 interceptions. Outside of those 2 guys, this is a defense that ranks 122nd overall in EPA/Play (13 spots worse than Oregon State) and 113th in points allowed per game. It is also a defense that is one of the worst in the nation at giving up explosive plays in the run game—that is just what the doctor ordered for a struggling offense that has relied on explosive plays and the run game all season.
If Wake continues to play the way they have for most of the season, this one should be pretty similar to the Oregon State game.
Go Deacs!
