Saturday’s college football preview: Delaware (8-4) at South Dakota State (10-1)

By Andy Walter
Posted 12/3/22

WHEN: Saturday, 3 p.m.

WHERE: Dykhouse Stadium (19,340), Brookings, S.D.

TV: ESPN-plus.

TWITTER: DSNSports.

COACHES: Delaware — Ryan Carty (8-4, 1st season); South Dakota State …

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Saturday’s college football preview: Delaware (8-4) at South Dakota State (10-1)

Posted

WHEN: Saturday, 3 p.m.

WHERE: Dykhouse Stadium (19,340), Brookings, S.D.

TV: ESPN-plus.

TWITTER: DSNSports.

COACHES: Delaware — Ryan Carty (8-4, 1st season); South Dakota State — John Stiegelmeier (194-112, 26th season).

NATIONAL RANKING: South Dakota State is No. 1, Delaware is No. 23 in STATS FCS poll.

LAST WEEK: Delaware beat St. Francis, 56-17; South Dakota State beat Illinois State, 31-7, on Nov. 12.

SERIES: Tied, 1-1.

LAST MEETING: South Dakota State won, 33-3, in 2021 spring FCS semifinals.

NCAA FCS/I-AA PLAYOFF RECORD: Delaware — 25-16 (18 appearances); South Dakota State — 14-12 (12 appearances).

WHAT’S NEXT: The winner plays the winner of the New Hampshire-Holy Cross game.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Coach Ryan Carty on getting the chance to play the No. 1 team in the country: “We’re all competitors here. Whoever they throw in front of us, we’re going to go attack as hard as we can. We’re going to do our best and by Friday we’re going to think we’re going to win by 40 because that’s how we are. Then we’ll see how it goes when we get out there and the coin toss happens.”

KEYS TO THE GAME: It’s not difficult to see that this is the biggest moment of Ryan Carty’s fledgling head coaching career. A good showing for the Blue Hens — even a close loss — could go a long way in building his reputation in Newark. While Delaware has a ton of seniors who are trying to keep their college careers alive, the Hens can also play with the freedom that comes with being an underdog. ... Delaware’s problem is that, the last time they played, the Jackrabbits dominated the line of scrimmage. That might happen again on Saturday. The fact that South Dakota State has the top rushing defense in FCS (71.4 ypg) isn’t a good sign for the Hens. Delaware struggled against teams like William & Mary and Elon, who were also good up front. ... QB Nolan Henderson has always been the X Factor for the Hens. If Delaware’s offensive line gives him a chance, the Smyrna High grad’s ability to scramble and make plays when things break down might keep the Hens in the game. They need to be able to keep him on the field, though.

NOTES: Carty is a combined 22-13 in FCS playoff games as a player and coach with a pair of national championships. ... With 56 career TD passes, Henderson needs two to equal Matt Nagy’s school career mark. ... The Jackrabbits have made the NCAA playoffs 11 seasons in a row, reaching at least the semifinals in four of the past five years. ... Just like in the spring ‘21 meeting, Mark Gronowski is South Dakota State’s starting QB. But he sat out the fall ‘21 season after injuring his knee in the spring national title game. ... This year he has 18 TD passes against only five INTs. ... Of the five CAA teams that made the playoffs, only Elon was eliminated in the first round.

 

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