The SWAC won’t be the only HBCU football conference to get national TV exposure on Saturday.
For the first time ever, Delaware State will host in-state FCS-ranked foe, Delaware, on ESPN 2 at 6 p.m.
“Being from Delaware, it means a little bit more to me,” said Hornets junior linebacker Brooks Parker told the Delaware News Journal. “I told some of my teammates that this is amazing that they’re coming here. I thought there would never be a day that they would be coming to Dover, Delaware. We’re just hoping to put on a show.”
Also read: Delaware State to host in-state rival Delaware at Alumni Stadium in series first
The Hornets (2-1) will not participate in the FCS playoffs as the MEAC was ruled ineligible because it lacked the number of required contests.
If Delaware State is able to pull off the upset, it would be the school’s first winning season since 2012.
This will be the 10th meeting between the state’s two I teams. The previous nine games were played at Delaware Stadium in Newark. The Hens have won the previous meetings by a combined score of 334-98.
In the last matchup, Delaware won 31-13 over the Hornets in the 2019 season opener.
“We just want to come out and put the best show on turf and limit our mistakes and just play the best DelState football we can play,” said Parker.
The football series between Delaware State and Delaware is scheduled to continue well into the next decade and beyond. Both schools have announced that the Hornets and Blue Hens have agreed to six games to be played between 2024 and 2030.
