Delaware outplayed William & Mary in the second half three weeks ago before mistakes foiled the Blue Hens in a 27-21 loss.
Saturday’s 27-7 defeat at Elon offered no such feel-good perspective.
The Phoenix scored the game’s final 27 points in a thorough Colonial Athletic Association win over the visiting Blue Hens at Rhodes Stadium, where a UD touchdown on the game’s first series was hardly a positive omen.
“We need to get better,” Hens coach Ryan Carty said in a postgame statement that will draw widespread agreement.
Five takeaways from Saturday’s loss:
That could be costly
The NCAA FCS playoff committee may have some tough choices for the final teams in its 24-team field and that’s where Saturday’s loss could hurt Delaware (6-2 overall, 3-2 CAA) depending on what happens in November.
Delaware’s win over Navy is a valuable chip and the Blue Hens will certainly make the field by winning their last three against Monmouth, Richmond and Villanova. But one loss will put the Hens on the bubble.
Elon (6-3, 4-2) has Albany and Hampton, each with one league win, left on its CAA schedule. With wins over William & Mary, Richmond and now Delaware, Elon, which lost at Rhode Island and New Hampshire the last two weeks, put itself back in FCS playoff position and possibly poised to win a tie-breaker with Delaware in the eyes of selectors.
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Henderson a gamer
Delaware fans have seen Nolan Henderson bounce back from injury so many times it’s become second nature.
But it shouldn’t be overlooked that Henderson looked like his usual self throwing the football on Saturday despite playing with his left shoulder in a safety harness from an injury suffered last week against Morgan State.
He completed 25 of 40 passes for 202 yards with a touchdown and a couple ill-timed drops.
“He probably could have kept himself out of danger a little bit more but sometimes he is who he is,” Carty said. “He’s gonna go out there and compete and make sure he tries to put us in the best situation to win.”
Henderson, who does so instinctively, didn’t run as much as usual and was sacked three times. But he showed while going 6-for-8 on the Hens’ first series, which ended with his 12-yard TD pass to Braden Brose, that he was going to throw caution to the wind and the football in the air.
Regretful result
Henderson was hit hard along the Elon sideline on a third-and-13 incompletion from the Elon 20 in the second quarter.
But Delaware ended up punting after Carty, who has on several occasions this season become quite animated and angry in discussions with referees, was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for his persistence in seeking an explanation for why no roughing-the-passer penalty was called.
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“I’m still uncertain exactly what caused it if I’m being honest,” Carty said, “but it’s obviously a regrettable situation. I thought Nolan had gotten a little bit of unnecessary stuff on their sideline and I was trying to get a reason as to why it wasn’t called. And I got a flag. It’s certainly regrettable but I’m not going to stop trying to protect our guys.”
Ground games
Delaware had just 19 yards rushing Saturday. Carty didn’t seem particularly alarmed, as his pass-oriented offense did produce a touchdown on its first series and reached well into Elon territory on four other series that ended on downs, the aforementioned penalty and punt, a fumble and an interception.
It was the fewest rushing yards allowed by Elon since 2009.
“We were moving the ball fine,” said Carty, whose team only had eight possessions, punted twice and was playing from behind the entire second half.
Kyron Cumby’s 25 yards on four carries led Delaware.
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Of more concern was how Elon pounded the ball at Delaware, averaging 4 yards per run. Jalen Hampton gained 136 yards on 32 carries.
“I think we need to do fundamentally some things better so we can stop what we can,” Carty said. “It’s not like we weren’t in situations to get off the field.”
Numbers game
Elon was 12-for-17 on third downs and also converted its one fourth down.
Time of possession was 36:59 for Elon and 23:01 for Delaware.
Elon had the four sacks plus six quarterback hurries. Delaware had no sacks and two hurries, though Elon threw just 21 passes to Delaware’s 44.
Delaware was 1-for-3 in the red zone to Elon’s 4-for-4 and the Blue Hens had just 86 total yards in the second half.
Have an idea for a compelling local sports story or is there an issue that needs public scrutiny? Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com.
