On Monday morning, sources brought forth information of the University of Delaware moving their football program up to the FBS level and all other sports to Conference USA.
While the university has yet to make an official announcement, a spokesperson from UD told Delaware Online “there will be information in the coming days.”
The Delaware Blue Hens are scheduled to make the jump ahead of the 2025 season with the football program becoming the 135th team in FBS and the eleventh member of Conference USA which has seen rapid turnover and expansion in recent years.
In 2022, Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss left for the Sun Belt Conference. The following summer, Conference USA lost six members to the American Athletic Conference. Following the departures, the conference was left with five schools (FIU, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, UTEP, and Western Kentucky). To build the league back up, Liberty and New Mexico State were brought in after time as independent programs. Two FCS teams, Jacksonville State and Sam Houston, found their window of opportunity as well. The new additions had few problems in their first year together as Liberty and New Mexico State will play for the Conference USA championship on Friday and Jacksonville State reached bowl eligibility. Sam Houston, coached by K.C. Keeler, who spent time at Delaware in the 2000s, picked up three wins.
In 2024, Kennesaw State will make their transition from the Atlantic Sun Conference to Conference USA. The Owls wrapped up one season as an FCS Independent before making the leap to the FBS next year.
Now, the conference continues to expand in numbers and in mileage. Delaware, whose home turf sits 2,000 miles from New Mexico Stateʻs Aggie Memorial Stadium, will become a full member in 2025. The Blue Hens will be welcomed to the FBS much like others with a bowl ban, inability to play for a conference championship and an entry fee, however, a couple more zeros have been added to that number (see above tweet).
As for 2024, Delaware is expected to remain in the Coastal Athletic Association, their home for football since 2007. The caveat is that Blue Hens will be ineligible for a CAA Championship or the FCS playoffs next season. Currently, Delaware is preparing for a second-round matchup in the FCS bracket against Montana after coming back to beat Lafayette last week.
The CAA Football Conference last saw a departure in 2022 when James Madison took off for the FBS and the Sun Belt. In the meantime, the CAA has accumulated five new football programs to raise their membership to 17 ahead of Delawareʻs departure. The newest addition the CAA football lineup is Bryant, who will affiliate with a third different conference since joining Division I football in 2009.
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