Undetermined

[udsb97]

An interesting tug of war still continues as the season heads into it's final weeks. On one side are the usuals who seem satisfied that we are just beating weak teams while on the other side are the usuals asking for some accountable progress other then just being better then we were before our new staff arrived. The injuries will certainly invite a valid excuse in the playoffs yet the other side will insist RC's 3-5 November record record is just not what was envisioned.

I see a long off season since Lafayette & possibly Montana game results will probably leave the Hens in the undetermined category in many people's minds.

[Hens79]

Following a likely 9-4 season, I see much of the offseason “discussion” shifting to the invite and acceptance to CUSA. Little discussion will be focused backwards to FCS and certainly not nonsense like some saying the Hens are really a 4-7 team.

[Cluck U]

Undetermined.


Carty has our Hens with 8 wins in each of his first two years (something Tubby, Keeler, Brock, Rocco couldn’t accomplish)…after a 5-6 losing season that included wins over powerhouse St. Francis and *checks notes* something called Dixie State.

Our Fighting Blue Hens have a home playoff game this post-Thanksgiving Saturday…second consecutive year where Hens fans can tailgate with turkey leftovers.

[HensRock]

In my mind, this tug-of-war as you called it, udsb, comes down to a single question we should each ask ourselves,

Are you more concerned with how good Delaware LOOKS,
or how good Delaware IS ?

Don't answer too quickly. Really think about it. Because no matter where Delaware was placed in the playoff bracket, does not change how good Delaware IS, ... but it might change how good they LOOK.

[Udforever1]

No, I’ll be thankful we finally have a coach again that realizes that playoffs should be the norm for as long as we remain FCS and isn’t afraid to talk championships instead of prongs and relevancy. Are we going to win one this year? No. But at least it’s being discussed again, and we should legitimately compete for one SHOULD we stay in FCS a few more years.

Should we go FBS, I’ll be looking forward to watching the portal to see what talent we’re bringing in, checking our future schedules and learning about our new conference mates.

Thanksgiving football two years in a row. In Carty’s first two years. Pretty nice accomplishment. I’ll spend the off-season though watching how we continue to get better.

[Caribbean Hen]

The injuries will certainly invite a valid excuse in the playoffs yet the other side will insist RC's 3-5 November record record is just not what was envisioned.

What was envisioned?

Considering all the off-season portal work Ryan Carty had to do to make this team competitive, I definitely think we’re headed in the right direction. Are we there yet? Nope.

He’s two for two in playoff appearances so that’s building.

He has a lot of work to do this off-season as well

It took South Dakota State a decade of building to get to where they are now, probably doesn’t mean a thing though is it doesn’t sound like we’re gonna be in FCS too much longer.

The injuries are a real problem going into the playoffs, and have zapped a lot of my enthusiasm. That next man up mantra only goes so far. Still looking forward to seeing how our true Freshman QB handles being the starter in a playoff game, he does have skills.

[77HEN]

No doubt the Hens are still in a rebuilding and growing process. We fans got a little ahead of things and got too excited over the wins from a cream puff schedule. I am surprised the Hens got in the playoffs; they really have no quality win. This was done on fumes. But they are in and now they need to find a win at home. Need better, stronger more athletic players on the lines as we go forward.

[Gannonfan]

We're in the playoffs for two consecutive years now. We have the chance to be playing December football for two consecutive years. Sure, this was the norm a little more than 10 years ago, but it hasn't been the norm in the time since. Carty, for all of his flaws, is vastly superior to the two mediocre/crappy coaches that came before him. He did it with a team in the first year filled with tons of older players left over who the coach before him couldn't win consistently with, and now he's done it with a big turnover of the roster in lots of spots in year 2. He's a coach who can seemingly work in the new environment of player movement/portal changes which is good, because that's the world we live in right now. The state of Delaware football is not undetermined, not in the least. We are vastly better off now than we've been in a decade and we're inching back to the national title contender that we were under Tubby and KC for much of the 90's and 00's. Pretty good place to be.

With all that said, this needs to be our last FCS playoffs. There HAS to be an announcement in the coming months, and before next season, that we are starting the two year (yes JMU, two years) transition to FBS football. We're late to the dinner table but the door's still open - it's a more expensive door now but still one that we have to take. There's no valid argument to stay in FCS any longer, unless the goal is Harker-like and we want to diminish sports, and especially football, at UD. There's never been a bigger off-season in UD history than the one that awaits us whenever this playoff run ends. We have to be FBS-bound before the 2024 season starts. Period.

[Maddog@76]

Dissuasion- “rhe act of sharing your “opinion” with other people and telling them your ideas or opinions: [ U ] The matter is still under discussion (= being considered). Each individual has their own feelings about the UD football program. But bottom line the 25 or so actual posters can post for weeks/months; the matter is totally up to the BOT and AD. For more impact- email those individuals and commit to donations (after all - it is usually “all about the money.”)

[Brookside kid hen]

Let's see about UD's goals for football every year shall we.
1. Win all of your games. Well even our 2 national championship teams in the last 45 years didn't accomplish this benchmark, but it's always the goal. So Carty's teams in his first 2 seasons par for the course, right?
2. Since we've been in the NCAA's playoff divisions since 1973, first in D2 and then 1-AA and now FCS, goal #2 every season is to make the playoffs. Let's see, keeler's frequency for making this goal has been oft criticized, but when he did wow what great runs. Brock ZERO playoff appearances, Rocco two in five years, of course Tubby had many playoff runs. Carty is batting .1000 last time I checked, 2 for 2. And before every pessimist on the board starts hollering "watered down conference and division", it is what it is. Is SDSU or NDSU complaining about FCS being watered down? Hell NO, because they are winning CHAMPIONSHIPS. And they aren't giving the hardware back because the FCS is watered down.
3. Win consistently and graduate your players to be good productive citizens. Well I can't speak to the latter particularly, but carty is 16-8 in two years, with two playoff berths. That's a .667 winning percentage, do that over a career and you make the hall of fame, just saying. We were spoiled with four hall of fame coaches over 72 years, and yes to the keeler haters he is going to be in the college football Hall of Fame, they ran him off and hired a loser and a guy ready for relevance and retirement. So give Carry a chance to turn into a Nelson or Raymond, instead of a Brock.
4. So to the question of are we making progress, hell yes we are!!! Have all of you been paying attention since 2011? Now if the Conference USA is our destination, let's build up an FBS G-5 roster as fast and well as we can, and we can be competitive right away. Anybody pay attention or watch say Jacksonville St. or even SHSU this season? Jack St. is Winning right away, liberty won right away, Sam Houston may only be 2-9 but were in every game with a chance to win but one. So if that is our play for next year and into the future, the first 3 goals don't change, other than playing for a conference title and a bowl game instead of a national championship. So let's get started making it happen, make the announcement, assuming it's going to happen for next season, ASAP and get the ball rolling. So let's start by beating Lafayette on Saturday!!! Go HENS!!!

[Warrior Hen]

A win against Lafayette and an upset in the game against Montana would make this a very successful season.

[Hensfansince03]

A win against Lafayette and an upset in the game against Montana would make this a very successful season.

That it would. A loss to Layayette and it’s a disappointment of a season. A win vs Lafayette and a loss at Montana is the status quo of what was expected.

If we are ever going to lose to Lafayette again this week is it. A mediocre Hens team that is banged up with a true freshman getting his first start against a solid Lafayette team. Hopefully we pull it out this week and heal up a bit for a fun trip to Montana.

[Double G]

The question will not be answered easily unless there are 2 more victories tacked on to the season.

Lafayette is a must and people will look the other way against Montana though.
Winning all your games- Sounds good the first day of practice or first presser but it doesn't happen.
The past- The Brocks ,Roccos. Keelers Raymonds,Nelson etc. really have zero to do with the future of UD. We need to respect their accomplishments if appropriate but the different situations make comparisons useless. They need to be dropped from future discussions as examples.
Playoffs - A necessity as long as we're in the FCS .
Conference Champs- This may be the most important measuring stick moving forward. Regardless of the strength it's an automatic bid and usually a sign that we have a solid team .

[Cluck U]

Nonsense.

Nobody needs to “drop” anything. This is a message board…people can discuss things as they see fit as long as they don’t make personal attacks.

Conference champs = solid team? Duquesne would like to have a word. Our conference champ was so solid they got blown out 55-7 last year.

Just win as many games as possible.

The rest is just fluff.

[Caribbean Hen]

Nonsense.

Nobody needs to “drop” anything. This is a message board…people can discuss things as they see fit as long as they don’t make personal attacks.

Conference champs = solid team? Duquesne would like to have a word. Our conference champ was so solid they got blown out 55-7 last year.

Just win as many games as possible.

The rest is just fluff.

Right on Cluck

and Montana just destroyed Montana State, the team that put that 55-7 beating on the CAA conference champ last year.