Delaware visits Western Kentucky on Tuesday night in what amounts to an elimination game in Conference USA. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. ET in Bowling Green, Ky., with CBS Sports Network carrying the broadcast. Liberty and Jacksonville State are both 3-0 in league play, while the Blue Hens are 1-2 and the Hilltoppers 2-1, so the loser can forget about a spot in the conference title game.
The forecast is mild, with partly cloudy skies in the evening, cloudier conditions overnight, a low near 49 degrees and light, variable winds. The SportsLine Projection Model favors Western Kentucky 29-26, and the posted game total is 57.5.
Delaware's hopes rest largely on senior quarterback Nick Minicucci, the 2026 CUSA Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. He led the conference last season with 3,683 passing yards and 3,918 yards of total offense. The Blue Hens started 2-1 in non-conference play with him, and their only loss, to Vanderbilt, was competitive. Minicucci then missed three games, all of which Delaware lost while scoring just 47 points combined.
He returned last Tuesday and Delaware routed Missouri State 61-38. Minicucci tied a school record with five touchdown passes and also ran for a score, moving into third place on the program's career list with 48 touchdown passes, one ahead of Bill Vergantino. The 61 points matched the most under coach Ryan Carty, and Delaware scored on nine consecutive drives and 10 of 11 overall, not counting two kneel-downs to end the second and fourth quarters. The Blue Hens went 8-for-8 in the red zone with six touchdowns, the most red-zone scores by a CUSA team in a game since 2022. It was the highest-scoring CUSA game since October 2017.
Defense has been the problem for Delaware. The Blue Hens allow 28.4 points per game, 396.4 total yards and 270.3 passing yards, all outside the top 100 nationally and at or near the bottom of the league. They lead CUSA with 18 sacks but have only two in their past two games, and they have given up at least 30 points in four straight games, tied for the longest active streak in the FBS.
Western Kentucky is coming off a bye after a 16-3 win at Sam Houston on Oct. 14. The Hilltoppers, who have led the FBS in pass attempts since coach Tyson Helton arrived in 2019, are leaning on the run this season. They gained only 276 yards in that win and have out-rushed their passing total in back-to-back games for the first time since September 2013. Florida State transfer Brock Glenn threw for 127 yards and a touchdown and led the team with 22 carries for 54 yards. Sophomore Rodney Tisdale Jr., the early-season starter, has missed the past two starts with an ankle injury.
The defense has improved, allowing 14.3 points per game over the last four, second in CUSA since Week 4, and just one touchdown in the past two games combined. The Sam Houston win was the first time WKU held a CUSA opponent without a touchdown in a victory since a 73-0 win over FIU on Sept. 24, 2022. Linebacker Jaylen Wester and linemen Mackavelli Malotumau and Rylen Su'a-Filo are set to return. The three graduate seniors missed two games amid an eligibility dispute with the NCAA, but they won the latest round last week and can play.
History and venue favor the home team. Western Kentucky has won 13 of its last 15 at Houchens-Smith Stadium, where it is averaging 43.0 points per game this season and has won four straight and eight of nine by an average margin of nearly 19 points. The game is a Red Out. Delaware leads the all-time series 2-1 but lost last year 27-24 in Newark, when Minicucci threw for 314 yards, tossed a pick-six and ran for three scores. The Blue Hens have not played in Bowling Green since 1981, have lost seven straight road games, the longest streak in CUSA, and are 1-8 away from home as an FBS program. CUSA teams are a combined 7-29 on the road this season, the worst mark of any FBS conference.
