# 2019 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team

The 2019 Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team represented the University of Delaware as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) during the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by third-year head coach Danny Rocco, the Fightin' Blue Hens compiled an overall record of 5–7 with a mark of 3–5 in conference play, tying for ninth place in the CAA. The team played home games at Delaware Stadium in Newark, Delaware. The stadium underwent renovations prior to the 2019 season.

## Preseason
### CAA poll

In the CAA preseason poll released on July 23, 2019, the Fightin' Blue Hens were predicted to finish in fifth place.
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | James Madison | 238 (20) |
| 2 | Towson | 217 (3) |
| 3 | Maine | 201 (1) |
| 4 | Elon | 164 |
| 5 | Delaware | 162 |
| 6 | Stony Brook | 151 |
| 7 | New Hampshire | 109 |
| 8 | Rhode Island | 104 |
| 9 | Villanova | 84 |
| 10 | Richmond | 62 |
| 11 | William & Mary | 58 |
| 12 | Albany | 34 |

### Preseason All–CAA team

The Fightin' Blue Hens had two players selected to the preseason all-CAA team.

## Schedule

Delaware scheduled 12 games in the 2019 season instead of the 11 normally allowed for FCS programs. Under a standard provision of NCAA rules, all FCS teams are allowed to schedule 12 regular-season games in years in which the period starting with Labor Day weekend and ending with the last Saturday of November contains 14 Saturdays.
| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| August 29 | 7:00 p.m. | Delaware State* | No. 22 | Delaware StadiumNewark, DE (Route 1 Rivalry) | FloSports | W 31–13 | 15,894 |
| September 7 | 7:00 p.m. | at Rhode Island | No. 21 | Meade StadiumKingston, RI | FloSports | W 44–36 $^{3OT}$ | 8,511 |
| September 14 | 1:00 p.m. | No. 1 North Dakota State* | No. 18 | Delaware StadiumNewark, DE | NBCSP | L 22–47 | 14,489 |
| September 21 | 1:00 p.m. | Penn* | No. 20 | Delaware StadiumNewark, DE | YouTube | W 28–27 | 11,782 |
| September 28 | 12:30 p.m. | at Pittsburgh* | No. 20 | Heinz FieldPittsburgh, PA | ACCRSN | L 14–17 | 68,400 |
| October 12 | 2:00 p.m. | at Elon | No. 15 | Rhodes StadiumElon, NC | FloSports | L 7–42 | 5,572 |
| October 19 | 1:00 p.m. | No. 22 New Hampshire | No. 24 | Delaware StadiumNewark, DE | FloSports | W 16–10 | 16,730 |
| October 26 | 1:00 p.m. | Richmond | No. 19 | Delaware StadiumNewark, DE | FloSports | L 25–35 | 15,308 |
| November 2 | 2:00 p.m. | at No. 21 Towson | | Johnny Unitas StadiumTowson, MD | FloSports | L 24–31 | 5,522 |
| November 9 | 1:00 p.m. | Albany | | Delaware StadiumNewark, DE | FloSports | L 17–21 | 13,742 |
| November 16 | 1:00 p.m. | Stony Brook | | Delaware StadiumNewark, DE | FloSports | W 17–10 | 11,981 |
| November 23 | 1:00 p.m. | at No. 10 Villanova | | Villanova StadiumVillanova, PA (Battle of the Blue) | FloSports | L 33–55 | 5,319 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from STATS Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Eastern time ||||||||

## Coaching staff

| Name | Position | Year | Alma mater |
| Danny Rocco | Head coach | 3rd | Wake Forest (1984) |
| Jared Ambrose | Offensive coordinator | 3rd | Shepherd (2007) |
| Chris Cosh | Defensive coordinator/defensive backs | 3rd | Virginia Tech (1984) |
| Bill Cubit | Assistant head coach/running backs | 1st | Delaware (1973) |
| Levern Belin | Defensive line coach | 3rd | Wake Forest (1991) |
| Holman Copeland | Assistant coach - Corners | 1st | |
| Jalen Kindle | Assistant coach | 2nd | Delaware (2017) |
| Dave Legg | Assistant coach – Outside linebackers/special teams | 1st | |
| Gregory Meyer | Tight ends coach | 2nd | Buffalo State (2009) |
| Bill Polin | Offensive line coach/recruiting coordinator | 3rd | Colby (2000) |
| Clint Sintim | Outside linebackers coach | 3rd | Virginia (2009) |
| Alex Wood | Wide receivers coach | 2nd | Iowa (1978) |
| Tony Palmieri | Video coordinator | 3rd | North Florida (2009) |
| Carl Kotz | Director of football operations | 3rd | Clemson (2003) |
| Chris Stewart | Strength and conditioning | 3rd | Western Carolina (1998) |
| Felicia Bergman | Director of Football Advising | 3rd | Colorado State (2009) |
| Jude Moser | Administrative Assistant | 10th | University of Delaware (1984) |

## Game summaries
### Delaware State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Hornets | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 13 |
| No. 22 Fightin' Blue Hens | 3 | 13 | 9 | 6 | 31 |

### At Rhode Island

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | 2OT | 3OT | Total |
| No. 21 Fightin' Blue Hens | 0 | 0 | 14 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 44 |
| Rams | 3 | 10 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 36 |

### North Dakota State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 1 Bison | 10 | 17 | 6 | 14 | 47 |
| No. 18 Fightin' Blue Hens | 5 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 22 |

### Penn

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Quakers | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 27 |
| No. 20 Fightin' Blue Hens | 7 | 0 | 14 | 7 | 28 |

### At Pittsburgh

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 20 Fightin' Blue Hens | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| Panthers | 0 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 17 |

### At Elon

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 15 Fightin' Blue Hens | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Phoenix | 7 | 0 | 21 | 14 | 42 |

### New Hampshire

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 22 Wildcats | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| No. 24 Fightin' Blue Hens | 0 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 16 |

### Richmond

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Spiders | 21 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 35 |
| No. 19 Fightin' Blue Hens | 7 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 25 |

### At Towson

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Fightin' Blue Hens | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 24 |
| No. 21 Tigers | 7 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 31 |

### Albany

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Great Danes | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
| Fightin' Blue Hens | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 17 |

### Stony Brook

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Seawolves | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Fightin' Blue Hens | 7 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 17 |

### At Villanova

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Fightin' Blue Hens | 7 | 10 | 0 | 16 | 33 |
| No. 10 Wildcats | 20 | 14 | 14 | 7 | 55 |

## Ranking movements

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Final |
| STATS FCS | 22 | 21 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 15 | 24 | 19 | RV | | | | | |
| Coaches | 23 | 21 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 15 | 24 | 19 | RV | | | | | |