Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens Do Get Two 4th Quarter Touchdowns
NEWARK, DE 10/2/2026 –
The Conference USA opener for the Fighting Blue Hens. The Liberty Flames visited Delaware Stadium for the first time and came away with a 30 – 14 win. The University of Delaware has been looking for more offense since quarterback Nick Minicucci went down with an injury. UD was in danger of being shutout since a September 9, 2017 loss at Virginia Tech. Finally, The Blue Hens scored in the fourth quarter, but were trailing by thirty points at that time.
“We weren’t good enough on offense,” said UD Coach Ryan Carty. “There were opportunities for us to execute a little cleaner on both sides of the ball as the game went on, and we didn’t do it. If we played a little cleaner it would have been a darn good football game. It was frustrating. A couple of things that happened to us early, we couldn’t get in rhythm.”
The Blue and Gold started EJ Archield at the signal caller position for the first time in his career. He played the first half. Two more Hens would play the position with Braden Streeter and Tyler Bell seeing time running the offense. In the first half the Hens could manage 188 yards of offense, 59 rushing and 129 through the air.
More damaging was that Liberty held the ball for 20:30 in the initial half to have a 20 – 0 lead at intermission. The UD defense bent, and held the Flames to two field goals of 47 and 30 yards.
“We didn’t stay on the field long enough,” Carty said. “An we couldn’t get off the field on defense. It’s hard for us to have a rhythm in this kind of offense when we don’t have the ball. And we need to create that.”
Quarterback change.
“We needed a spark,” Carty said.
Streeter started the second half. He would end the game completing 3 of 7 passes for 78 yards and had one pass intercepted, However Streeter and Donovan Lewis got the Hens on the scoreboard with a 57-yard touchdown. Streeter completed a 17-yard pass to Lewis who ran the next 41 yards for the score at the 9:38 mark.
Tyler Bell also took snaps running the offense. He completed 4 of his 9 passing attempts for 42 yards and a touchdown. It was a 27-yard scoring toss to wide receiver Matthew McKinley-Daniels who tipped-up the ball then snared it in the right corner of the endzone.
The major issue for UD was that they could not keep the offense on the field possessing the ball for a total of 21:28. They converted only 2 of 13 third down chances and 1 of 4 fourth down tries.
The Hens defense adjusted. After giving up 338 yards of offense in the first half including a 56-yard touchdown run by Flames running back Sam Davis. The unit bent but did not break limiting Liberty to three field goals. Then in the second half the Flames could only muster 101 yards of total offense.
What the Numbers Say
UD rushed for 102 yards while gaining 257 via the passing game. Bryson Graves caught 3 passes for 69 yards, 36 yards his longest. The Hens turned the ball on one interception and one fumble.
Kahlil Ali and Colin Gallagher led the defense with 8 tackles each.
The Hens scored on two of their last three possessions.
Liberty quarterback Deshawn Purdie completed 13 of 20 passes for 157 yards and ran for thirteen. Davis was the offensive star with 147 rushing yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns. Makai Jackson had 5 caches for 90 yards.
Each team punted 5 times.
Next Up
Liberty improves to 4 – 1 for the season, 1 – 0 in the league. Sam Houston State comes to visit next week.
The Blue Hens are on a two-game losing skid and are 2 – 3, 0 – 1 in Conference USA. They go on the road next week for a game against Middle Tennessee State.
“We probably need to get better in all areas,” Carty said. “This is as poor offensively in a teo-game stretch that I’ve ever been in my entire life, and that needs to change. And trust me, it will change. It will bet better.”
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: glenn@phillycollegesports.com
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