“T.I.P.S.” for CU v. Delaware

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Colorado v. Delaware: “T.I.P.S.” for Buffs v. Blue Hens

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Quick Quiz: Can you name the FBS team with the best all-time winning percentage?

Michigan? Ohio State? Alabama? Notre Dame?

Good guesses, all. But the Wolverines, Buckeyes, Crimson Tide and Fighting Irish current are ranked 2nd – 5th on the all-time list.

No. 1?

That would be the Fightin’ Blue Hens of the University of Delaware.

Delaware and Missouri State are the two newest members of the FBS. In Week one, Missouri State received a rude introduction to the FBS (a 73-13 loss to USC), while Delaware defeated Delaware State, 35-17.

The Blue Hens are currently 1-0, and hold the best winning percentage in all of the FBS (1.000, min., one game).

It will be up to the Buffs to give Delaware its first loss of the season, and bring the Blue Hens back to reality.

Colorado is a three-touchdown favorite (23.5-points), and will have work to do to try and put the 27-20 opening week loss to Georgia Tech in their rear view mirror.

Will the Buffs bounce back in style? Will the Blue Hens find a way to spoil CU’s fun?

Let’s find out …

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“T.I.P.S” for Colorado v. Delaware – Saturday, 1:30 p.m., MT, Fox

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T – Talent

According to the 247 Sports College Football Composite Team Talent listings, CU has 61 players who have star rankings, with three five-star players; 19 four-stars; and 35 three-stars. That’s good enough for a No. 30 ranking nationally (2nd in the Big 12, just behind No. 29 Texas Tech).

In those same rankings, Delaware is ranked 133rd nationally, with one four-star player (cornerback Keontae Jenkins) and a grand total of 14 three-star players.

That’s another way of saying that there is no way Delaware should be able to compete with Colorado.

Of course, the same could have been said about CU’s talent advantage over Montana State in 2006 and Sacramento State in 2012 … both embarrassing Buff losses to FCS schools.

Delaware is no longer an FCS school, but the Blue Hens are only one game into their FBS history. Still, they get to line up 11-on-11 at Folsom Field …

Let’s see what they are bringing to town.

Senior Zach Marker won the job as starting quarterback in Fall Camp, but Marker went down with a leg injury in the first quarter of the season opener against Delaware State. Junior Nick Minicucci stepped in, leading the Blue Hens to a 35-17 win over the Fighting Hornets.

Minicucci, who went 3-1 to finish the 2024 season as the starting quarterback for the Blue Hens, went 28-of-36 for 251 yards and three touchdowns through the air in the 35-17 win over Delaware State, while also leading the Blue Hens in rushing, with nine carries for 44 yards and a touchdown.

Delaware’s top two receivers in the opener were Jake Thaw and Kyre Duplessis, who both had seven receptions and a touchdown against Delaware State (Tight end Caleb Fauria, a former Buff, had 12 catches for 134 yards and a touchdown last season for the Blue Hens, but did not see the field in the opener).

Delaware can run some odd defenses, including a three-man front and three safeties, hoping the unique set up will confusion opposing offenses.

Overall, Delaware has been taking steps the past few seasons to make the transition to the FBS. The Blue Hens went 9-2 in their final season in the Colonial Athletic Association last fall. That normally would have earned an invitation to the FCS Playoffs (Delaware has six lower division FCS national championships, though only one – in 2003 – in the 1-AA). Delaware, though, increased its scholarship allotment past the 63 allowed in the FCS, making the Blue Hens ineligible for postseason play. Head coach Ryan Carty, starting his fourth season, also had a number of players play in only four games last fall, including both Zach Marker and Nick Minicucci, preserving redshirt seasons so they could be eligible to play an extra year for the Blue Hens.

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I – Intangibles

Nothing to explain away … Much will be made by some of the Buff Nation about the Buffs playing a team the caliber of Delaware.

Remind them that this is a matchup of necessity, not convenience.

Other Big 12 teams routinely schedule games against teams difficult to find on the map (Wagner? Robert Morris? Stephen F. Austin? Samford? Northwestern State? … and that’s just this September). Meanwhile, a seventh home game for the Buffs is happening for the first time since 1982.

It’s all due to CU’s switch to the Big 12. The Buffs were scheduled for a home-and-home against Houston of the Big 12, with the Buffs playing the Cougars on the road in 2025. That game is now a conference game (to be played next weekend), freeing up a non-conference game for the Buffs.

So, with non-conference schedules made out years in advance, CU had to go looking for a team willing to play a one-off game in Boulder on short notice. At the same time, Delaware, making its move from FCS to FBS, just happened to be looking for a non-conference opponent.

As a result, Delaware gets a paycheck to help finance its step up to the FBS; CU gets (presumably) a stats-friendly home victory.

(The seven-game home game anomaly – though common almost everywhere else in the Power Four – will happen again in 2027, when a home-and-home against Kansas State will go from being non-conference to Big 12 conference games).

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Not really rivals … The Blue Hens struggled early against Delaware State. A 30.5-point favorite, Delaware was up only 14-10 midway through the third quarter, before going on to a 38-17 victory. One might think that the closeness of the game was due to the game being a bitter rivalry game, with Delaware State wanting to stick it to its Big Brother (like CSU tries to do against CU).

In reality? Not so much.

The two teams have only played 12 times in history, with Delaware winning all 12. The two teams have only played twice since 2020, with 11 of 12 games being played at Delaware’s home stadium (the one game played at Delaware State was a COVID game with no fans in April, 2020).

While Delaware State certainly would have liked an upset, the Hornets (1-10 in 2023; 1-11 in 2024) should not have been able to stay with the Blue Hens as long as they did last weekend.

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P – Preparation/Schedule

Go West, Young Men … While Delaware has played a few games west of the Mississippi in its history (recently, the Blue Hens lost an FCS playoff game at Montana in 2023; losing another FCS playoff game at South Dakota State in 2022), the trek to Boulder is a rarity.

While there are a handful of players on the Delaware roster who have ventured west two time zones before, they are the minority.

There should also be the “playing at altitude” advantage, but, then again, that argument was supposed to work in the fourth quarter against Georgia Tech … but didn’t.

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Injury reports … This entry will be a fixture here on the website once we get to Big 12 conference play. This season, teams are required to submit injury reports a few days before each game. With categories of “Out”, “Doubtful”, “Questionable”, and “Probable”, fans will be given at least a general feel for how a roster may be affected by injuries.

This rule won’t be in effect, however, until Big 12 play (so the first for CU will be the road game against Houston on September 12th). For the Delaware game, we don’t know much, other than the Blue Hens’ starting quarterback out of Fall Camp, Zach Marker, will be unavailable.

CU’s wide receiver Omarion Miller tweaked his hamstring against Georgia Tech, and is doubtful for Delaware, while running back Dallan Hayden, out for the game against the Yellow Jackets, was back to limited practice this week.

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An Extra Day? … While CU was playing Georgia Tech last Friday, the Delaware players were sitting at home, watching.

The Delaware/Delaware State game was played last Thursday night, giving the Blue Hens an extra day of preparation.

With the lost day for travel – and getting from Baltimore to Denver is a much longer trip than Delaware players are used to – and with CU playing on Friday, giving the Buffs another day of rest than usual, the extra day of rest for the Blue Hens should not be a significant advantage this early in the season.

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S – Statistics 

Run, Forrest, Run … There has been much discussion – and criticism – of Kaidon Salter not running more in the opener. There were times when Salter threw the ball instead of tucking and running, and few plays seemed designed to give CU’s option quarterback the option to, well, run.

Salter did have 13 rushes for 43 yards in the opener (out of CU’s 146 rushing yards). Not bad, especially when considering Shedeur Sanders was often in the negative, due to taking so many sacks (Salter was sacked once, for a loss of six yards). Still, much will be expected from Salter against Delaware.

Stat to watch … Salter will have a 100-yard rushing game Saturday (Hedge my bet: Since Coach Prime said that freshman quarterback Julian Lewis will also play Saturday, let’s say CU’s quarterbacks will have over 100 yards rushing against Delaware). If not … well, let’s not go there.

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CU’s rushing defense is offensive … Last season, Kent State was last in the nation in rushing defense, giving up 264.9 yards per game. Against Georgia Tech, the Colorado defense surrendered 320 yards rushing.

If the Buffs were to hold Delaware to 100 yards rushing – unlikely, but not unreasonable – CU’s average will still only go down to 210.0 yards allowed per game.

More realistic … Let’s say the Buffs get their act together on defense, and were to allow 120 yards rushing per game over the next six games, it would take until that time – game seven – to get the Buffs back to where they were last season (giving up 151.4 yards per game, which was only good enough for 71st nationally).

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Prediction … 

The Buffs can go in several different directions after the Georgia Tech.

Right after the game, Coach Prime said, “I’m optimistic on everything. We’re definitely gonna be fine. I’m not concerned about that”.

After he and his team were exposed to a barrage of negative comments in social media after the game, though, Coach Prime was much more defensive. “We didn’t lose the game because of Coach Shurmur, Coach Livingston or one specific team. I have to do a better job,” Coach Prime said in his Tuesday press conference. “We had the plays, we just didn’t make it happen. We had several plays that we should have made happen. We didn’t. They did.”

Will the Buffs come out with fire, and dominate the Blue Hens from the start? Or will the Buffs struggle, with frustrations on the field (and in vocal elements in the stands) make for a less-than-comfortable afternoon?

I’m not a betting person, and I don’t care about point spreads. I just want the Buffs to emerge Saturday afternoon with a 1-1 record, and some positive momentum for the start of Big 12 play next Friday night in Houston.

But, I’m going to go with the Buffs playing well early, and not letting up … and least that’s my fervent hope …

Prediction … Colorado 38, Delaware 13

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2025 Predictions (0-1 Straight up; 0-1 Against the spread) …

• Colorado 27, Georgia Tech 23 … Actual: Georgia Tech 27, Colorado 20

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2024 Predictions … (Straight up: 10-3; Against the Spread: 10-3) …
2023 Predictions … (Straight up: 8-4; Against the Spread: 7-5) …
2022 Predictions … (Straight up: 10-2; Against the Spread: 9-3) …
2021 Predictions … (Straight up: 9-3; Against the Spread: 7-5) …

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Tags: Dallan Hayden
This post, about the Delaware game, from the 2025 Season, is filed under Article.
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