Delaware vs. UConn: Week 3 Snap Counts and Takeaways

Since my freshman year as a student at Delaware in 2019, this one finishes as the best I’ve ever witnessed inside Delaware Stadium: an 85-point game filled with explosive plays, high-leverage moments, and overtime. The Blue Hens earned their first FBS win against an FBS opponent in front of their home crowd, defeating the Connecticut Huskies 44-41 in overtime. The offense had a big day, the defense stepped up in crucial end-of-game moments, and special teams converted as time expired. Let’s jump into all sides of the ball below.

Offense

Snap Counts

#70 (LT) Anwar O’neal: 81
#54 (LG) Fintan Brose: 81
#61 (C) Steven Demboski: 81
#62 (RG) Anthony Caccese: 81
#75 (RT) Noah Rosahac: 81
#4 (QB) Nick Minicucci: 81
#19 (WR) Kyre Duplessis: 74
#18 (WR) Sean Wilson: 67
#9 (WR) Ja’Carree Kelly: 63
#88 (TE) Elijah Sessoms: 57
#27 (RB) Jo Silver: 55
#41 (TE) Connor Witthoft: 38
#23 (RB) Viron Ellison Jr.: 29
#8 (WR) Nick Laboy: 17
#0 (WR) Max Patterson: 4
#6 (WR) Nick Tyree: 1

Key Takeaways

• Nick Minicucci deserves so much credit on the day, finishing 23-34 with 265 yards, a passing touchdown, and three rushing touchdowns. All three touchdowns on the ground, including the walk-off winner, looked similar in play design: Minicucci seeing the defensive movement and keeping the ball for himself up the middle on a zone/power read. We will get to the throws that Nick made leading to explosive plays throughout the game, but something I wanted to focus on is how he handled the two-minute drill down three points. He was sacked on the first play of the drive yet responded by picking up any positive yards available on 2nd- and 3rd- downs to allow a 4th-and-manageable. He then put the ball in a spot to force a flag and extend the drive. Following this, he completed a pass in a tight window for 26 yards downfield. Finding himself in another 3rd-and-long position, he took what the defense gave him in a checkdown to Viron Ellison Jr., setting up a 4th-and-1 where he punched it himself to move the chains. Nick made all of the plays he needed to when the lights were the brightest.

• Credit to Nick again for selling the zone reads and making big-time throws in crunch time, but also a big ovation to the offensive line for allowing these reads to develop. Steven Demboski, missing the first two games with injury, was selected as the Conference USA Offensive Lineman of the Week in his 2025 debut. Fintan Brose, shifting over to left guard for the injured Patrick Shupp, was again strong on the interior.

• All offseason, we talked about who would come in and fill the offensive production lost by running back Marcus Yarns and wide receiver Phil Lutz. Jo Silver was the logical prediction in the backfield, and last Saturday was his first game being unleashed with 15 carries for 179 yards and two touchdowns, including a cutback taken 70 yards to the house. Coastal Carolina transfer Kyre Duplessis, who had single-game career-high reception and yard totals in Delaware’s season opener, outdid himself in this one with 9 catches for 161 yards and touchdown. Duplessis also outdid himself from Week 1 in the highlight reel, winning a 50/50 ball on the sidelines, staying in bounds, and taking it 68 yards for the score. The highest-rated Blue Hen of the day via PFF (83.2) also made an 8-yard catch on 4th-and-5 and a 26-yard reception to get the team in field goal range on the final drive of regulation. The Delaware coaching staff may have caught lightning in a bottle out wide again in Duplessis, who had a massive weekend when the Hens needed it most with the absence of Jake Thaw.

• Last week, we talked about 3rd-down conversion rate needing to be in the 40% range. Where did they finish? Exactly at 40%, going 6-15 on an average distance of 6.6 yards to gain. Even as, if not more important, Delaware went a perfect 3-3 on 4th-down conversions, two of them leading to scores in the second half. The Hens were also perfect in red zone scoring, punching in touchdowns on all three attempts. Winning at this level against quality opponents comes with winning the margins.

• The touchdowns and late-game plays will of course be talked about, but my most underrated moment on offense came on Delaware’s first pass of the day. Following a sack on a blitz, Minicucci stepped up in the pocket to find Sean Wilson on a corner route on the left side of the field, gaining 32 yards on 3rd-and-16. If the Hens go three-and-out following a promising start on defense, how long does it take the offense to find rhythm? This play set the tone for an explosive day for Head Coach Ryan Carty’s side.

Defense

Snap Counts

#7 (S) KT Seay: 73
#35 (LB) Gavin Moul: 72
#19 (LB) Dillon Trainer: 57
#1 (CB) Nate Evans: 71
#6 (CB) Kshawn Cox Jr.: 58
#13 (DE) Noah Matthews: 52
#10 (LB) Blake Matthews: 49
#2 (S) Mysonne Pollard: 43
#93 (DT) Jack Hall: 39
#8 (DE) Ethan Saunders: 34
#52 (DT) Dominick Brogna: 33
#17 (S) Jason Scott: 30
#3 (S) Hasson Manning Jr.: 30
#9 (DT) Keyshawn Hunter: 28
#98 (DT) Nick Karika: 23
#32 (LB) Marje Mulumba: 20
#11 (DT) James Yelbert Jr.: 20
#33 (DT) Trace Scott III: 19
#18 (CB) Jamarion Kolagbodi: 13
#14 (S) Kahlil Ali: 10
#29 (CB) Nyair Domnie: 7
#44 (DE) Kaeden Singleton: 5
#21 (LB) Anthony Crenshaw Jr.: 5
#58 (LB) Colin Gallagher: 2
#31 (DE) Brandon Gorham: 1

Key Takeaways

• The Delaware offense was high-powered Saturday afternoon, but the UConn offense countered with their own punches. While allowing 521 total yards, including 346 in the air from 7th-year veteran Joe Fagnano, Defensive Coordinator Manny Rojas’s side came up strong when they were needed most. Two plays into overtime, the Huskies got the ball on the 2-yard line for 1st & Goal. On the next play, the goal line front of Jack Hall, Ethan Saunders, Noah Matthews, and Nick Karika stuffed Cam Edwards at the line of scrimmage. After an incomplete play action pass on second down, the secondary locked down the crossing route combination in the end zone, giving the same front four a chance to get into the backfield. The sixth-year pairing of Jack Hall (82.3 PFF score) and Ethan Saunders combined for the sack on 3rd down, forcing UConn to settle for a field goal and giving the offense a chance to win it.

• On Delaware’s 23-yard line nearing the two-minute timeout, the Connecticut offense were two yards away from having the opportunity to run out the game clock. On 3rd down, the Blue Hen front again held Edwards for no gain, this time Dillon Trainer making the first contact and Karika cleaning it up. Jim Mora’s side then chose to go for it instead of attempting a 40-yard field goal to make it a 6-point game. On the play, KT Seay sniffed out the tight end running a flat route, stopping Louis Hansen short of the chains to give the offense one last hope. Seay, with a team-high 87.8 tackling grade on PFF, finished the day with a single-game career-best 13 tackles.

• Situationally last week, Colorado flipped the game momentum in domination of the middle-eight minutes, scoring touchdowns to both close the first half and start the second half to give themselves a three-possession lead. In these scenarios this week, the Blue Hen defense forced two Connecticut punts, only giving up one first-down in three middle-eight possessions. And as stated above, the defense forced a key three-and-out to open the game. The Huskies found success on the possessions in between, but Delaware’s stops came in timely moments throughout the game.

• On last week’s podcast, I discussed how important it was for the Hens to win the turnover battle as the team is 20-0 in Carty’s tenure when doing so. Delaware did just that, as KT Seay intercepted Fagnano on the sidelines… that was soon cancelled from a defensive pass interference. Two plays later, Kshawn Cox Jr. forced a fumble with Marje Mulumba recovering and returning for 28 yards… that was immediately negated from a defensive holding penalty. While they forced a game-saving turnover-on-downs late in the 4th quarter, the Delaware defense had two turnovers stripped away from flags. This is stadium energy they won’t want to lose in the coming weeks with conference play now starting up.

• UConn’s offense took a hit when playmaker Mel Brown left the game early with an injury. Taking a larger workload, Cam Edwards had 116 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 23 touches and Victor Rosa had 3 carries for 41 yards and a touchdown. On the receiving end, Skyler Bell had 7 receptions for 92 yards. In total, the Huskies had 7 plays go for at least 20 yards. The Delaware defense will have to limit the number of explosive plays in their Conference USA opener at Florida International, who will feed running back Kejon Owens after a 192 all-purpose yard, two-touchdown performance that earned him CUSA Offensive Player of the Week honors.

A huge shout out is needed to the leg that got the Blue Hens into overtime in Nate Reed knocking down a career-long 43-yard field goal as time expired. A moment you had to catch on the sidelines was Carty and Reed embracing one another before the kick. Carty, who showed belief in his specialist from a similar spot and distance he missed the drive prior, was rewarded as Reed kept his composure and extended the game for the home side to capitalize on.

Delaware will look to take advantage of this momentum as it heads down to the 305 to play FIU, who also earned a big rivalry win of their own in Week 3 against Florida Atlantic in the “Shula Bowl.” On a Feathers and Field Goals front, we will preview this matchup between the Panthers and Blue Hens with Jake Gibson, host of Paws Up Podcast, in our Thursday episode release.

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