The University of Delaware’s 2024 football season as a Coastal Athletic Association outcast will open against incoming league member Bryant.
That game is slated for a Thursday night, Aug. 29, at 7 at Delaware Stadium but is actually a nonconference match-up. Bryant, located in Smithfield, Rhode Island, is moving to the CAA from America East and the Big South/Ohio Valley Conference football association this fall. The game was scheduled before Bryant's move to the CAA was finalized.
The Blue Hens’ four home CAA games are versus Maine Oct. 12, Albany Oct. 26, Rhode Island Nov. 9 and Campbell Nov. 16.
Road CAA games take Delaware to North Carolina A&T Sept. 14, Monmouth Oct. 5, Richmond Oct. 19 and, in what will be Delaware’s final game as an NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) member, frequent Nemesis and long-time rival Villanova Nov. 23.
Other nonconference games are at Delaware Stadium against Penn Sept. 21 and Sacred Heart Sept. 28, giving Delaware seven home games. That leaves open dates on Sept. 7 and Nov. 2.
Kick-off times were announced March 29.
2024 Delaware football schedule
Aug. 29 – Bryant, 7 p.m.Sept. 7 – Open dateSept. 14 – at *North Carolina A&T, 1 p.m.Sept. 21 – Penn, 6 p.m.Sept. 28 – Sacred Heart, 3:30 (Parents Weekend)Oct. 5 – at *Monmouth, 1 p.m.Oct. 12 – *Maine, 1 p.m.Oct. 19 – at *Richmond, 3:30 p.m.Oct. 26 – *Albany, 3 p.m. (Homecoming)Nov. 2 – Open dateNov. 9 – *Rhode Island, 1 p.m.Nov. 16 -- *Campbell, 1 p.m.Nov. 23 – at *Villanova, 1 p.m.*Coastal Athletic Association game
FCS teams are permitted to play 12 games in 2024 because there is an extra Saturday on the calendar between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Delaware presently has the traditional 11 scheduled but is willing to add a 12th if the right opportunity surfaces, according to UD.
Previously contracted 2024 nonconference games at Delaware State and at home versus Norfolk State have been scrapped. Delaware was also expected to play Towson, an annually locked-in CAA foe along with Villanova. But with the addition of a 16th conference team, everyone now has just one automatic opponent, according to the CAA.
Delaware has announced it will open its 2025 season at home against Delaware State and will also visit Wake Forest that year.
Delaware is ineligible for the CAA title and FCS playoffs in 2024 due to its impending 2025 move to Conference USA in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Therefore, Delaware’s games will not count for the Blue Hens in the CAA standings, though they will for the opposition.
BAD LOOK?:Nonprofit battling steroid use critical of UD coach's participation in strongman events
The CAA did the same thing with Massachusetts in 2011 and Georgia State in 2012 after they’d announced departures to FBS. Because of the later timing of its 2012 declaration of an impending FBS move, Old Dominion did play a league schedule that counted and finished first that fall. ODU was declared ineligible for the title by the league but did reach the FCS quarterfinals as an at-large invitee.
All three teams that shared the 2023 CAA title -- Albany, Richmond and Villanova -- are on Delaware's 2024 schedule.
TIME IS NOW:In spring drills, time is now as Blue Hens' defense preps for 2024 and 2025 FBS move
Parents and Family Weekend is the Sept. 28 Sacred Heart game while Albany is the Homecoming visitor Oct. 26.
Bryant's addition makes the CAA a 16-team league in 2024 with every school playing eight league foes.
Delaware went 9-4 in 2023, its winningest season in 13 years, and made its first back-to-back NCAA playoff appearances since 2003-04 after also qualifying last year. A regular-season-ending loss to Villanova thwarted Delaware’s 2023 CAA title bid.
The Blue Hens rallied to beat Lafayette 36-34 in the first round of the FCS Tournament before losing for the second year in a row in the round of 16, this time 49-19 at snowy Montana.
SOUTHERN EXPSOSURE:On college football Signing Day, see recruits Delaware added
The week before that game, Delaware announced its impending move to Conference USA in 2025. Becoming an FBS member allows Delaware to begin building toward its 85-scholarship maximum from the FCS limit of 63.
While the roster will likely have more scholarship players, Delaware has pledged to have just 63 available for CAA games in 2024. Just 53 Blue Hens played against Lafayette and 59 versus Villanova in the last two home games of 2023. Delaware did send 66 players on the field in its Sept. 16 home opener against Saint Francis, a 42-12 nonconference rout.
Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.
