Delaware still wears the winged helmet that David Nelson brought with him from Michigan, where he had played for Fritz Crisler. Nelson also built the Delaware Wing-T, and Tubby Raymond perfected it on the way to three of the program's six national titles. On Saturday the winged helmets come out for Homecoming at Delaware Stadium, and the Fightin' Blue Hens and FIU arrive in exactly the same spot: 4-5, 2-3 in the league, with three games left and two more wins needed.
Delaware is coming off a game it nearly stole. At Kennesaw State last Saturday, Nick Minicucci threw for 408 yards, completing 35 of 54, and his 17-yard touchdown pass to Bryson Graves with 24 seconds left pulled the Blue Hens within 42-40. The two-point try failed. Graves finished with seven catches for 125 yards, Viron Ellison Jr. ran for two short touchdowns, and Trace Scott III returned the first interception of his career for a score. Before that, Delaware had won two straight, 61-38 over Missouri State on Senior Night and 35-21 at Western Kentucky.
FIU had a happier Homecoming of its own. Robert Czeremcha's 35-yard field goal with two seconds left beat Missouri State 23-20 in Miami, the Panthers' first game-winning field goal since 2012. A long scramble by JJ Kohl set it up. Devonte Lyons ran for more than 200 yards and two touchdowns, the third-best rushing day in program history, and the defense didn't allow a touchdown. Missouri State's only one came on a fumble return. The win snapped a three-game losing streak.
That fumble is the part Willie Simmons will want fixed. Kohl was strip-sacked for the Bears' touchdown and also threw an interception, and turnovers have followed him most of the season. When he takes care of the ball, FIU's formula works: run with Lyons, lean on the defense and play a low-scoring game.
That sets up the afternoon's main contest. Delaware throws for more yards than anyone in Conference USA, and FIU has allowed the second-fewest passing yards in the league. Up front it's a two-way fight. The Blue Hens lead the conference in sacks, with Blake Matthews leading the charge, but their own line has given up nearly as many. FIU's Elisha Baldridge and Deejay Holmes Jr. each had two sacks against Missouri State, and Minicucci will throw plenty of times on Saturday.
The other matchup is FIU's running game against a Delaware defense that has given up big yardage all fall. Delaware's last three games have all been high-scoring, and FIU wants no part of that kind of afternoon. The Panthers would rather keep the score in the 20s and the clock moving.
The stakes are the same for both, and the winner comes out of Saturday with a clear road to six wins. Delaware closes at New Mexico State and then at home against unbeaten Jacksonville State. FIU goes to Kennesaw State and then gets 1-8 Sam Houston at home in the finale. Win here, and the Panthers can count that last home date as a reasonable chance at a sixth win. The loser has to win out, with Jax State waiting for Delaware and a trip to Kennesaw State for FIU.
FIU has a road problem to solve first. The Panthers are 4-1 at home and 0-4 away, and they haven't won outside Miami all season. Delaware is 3-1 in Newark.
These two met once before, in Delaware's first Conference USA game in September 2025. The Blue Hens won 38-16 in Miami, with Kyre Duplessis returning a punt 68 yards for a touchdown, and the loss ended Simmons' 22-game home winning streak, which went back to his Florida A&M days. Both teams went on to bowl games. Delaware beat Louisiana in the 68 Ventures Bowl, only the second team ever to win a bowl game in its first FBS season, and FIU lost to UTSA in the First Responder Bowl.
The projection is Delaware 27, FIU 23. The Blue Hens are at home, they have the more dangerous passing game, and the Panthers have yet to win on the road. But FIU's defense is the best Delaware has seen in weeks, Lyons gives the Panthers a way to shorten the game, and a cold, breezy afternoon in the low 40s with a northwest wind should take a little off the passing on both sides.
The market, for the record: Delaware is about a 4.5-point favorite, and the total is 53.5. The projection (Delaware by 4) sits a little under the line.
What breaks it: Lyons has another day like the one against Missouri State, Kohl avoids turnovers, and FIU finally wins one away from home. The other way it breaks: Minicucci gets time to throw, Delaware's pass rush forces Kohl into the kind of mistakes that hurt him last week, and the Blue Hens take over in the second half.