Delaware Blue Hens at Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
Tue Oct 13 · 6:00 PM CT
By Pablo SanchezUpdated 6d ago·2 min read
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Delaware heads into its second Conference USA season looking like the class of the league's newcomers, and Middle Tennessee is the team standing in the way of an easy October night in Murfreesboro.
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Best BetDelaware
Delaware brings back its starting quarterback, top back, and top receiver from a bowl-winning season, while Middle Tennessee is starting over on offense with a new coordinator. That experience gap is the whole ballgame here, and Delaware's price should reflect a team that's proven it can win tight ones.
Delaware
+QB Minicucci threw for 3,683 yards, 23 TDs in 2025
+Won 68 Ventures Bowl in debut CUSA season
+Core skill trio of Minicucci, Silver, Wilson returns
−Four 2025 wins came by one score — thin margin
−Tougher overall schedule this time around
−Still building road identity in a new conference
Middle Tennessee
+New OC Anthony Scelfo brought in to fix the offense
+Multiple mid-week CUSA games could offer rest advantages
−Identical 3-9 record in back-to-back seasons under Mason
−Same 2-6 conference mark two years running
−Coach facing real pressure to show progress
The QB picture says a lot about where these programs stand. Nick Minicucci comes back for Delaware off a season where he threw for 3,683 yards and 23 touchdowns while adding 10 more scores on the ground, good enough for second-team All-CUSA honors. Middle Tennessee counters with Roman Gagliano, who earned a preseason All-CUSA nod of his own but is trying to run a rebuilt offense under a brand-new coordinator.
That new coordinator is Anthony Scelfo, brought in specifically to get more points on the board after the Blue Raiders scored back-to-back 3-9 seasons under Derek Mason. Delaware doesn't have that kind of overhaul to worry about — Jo Silver and Sean Wilson are both back alongside Minicucci, giving Ryan Carty's group one of the more experienced skill-position cores in the conference.
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DEL Delaware
MTSU Middle Tennessee
Delaware enters the year priced at +700 to win the CUSA title, the fourth-shortest number in the league, while Middle Tennessee is still trying to prove it belongs in that conversation at all. That gap in expectations is going to shape how the market treats this one long before kickoff.
Continuity matters here. Delaware won the 68 Ventures Bowl in its first FBS season and did it by grinding out four one-score wins, evidence of a program that finds ways to close games even when it isn't dominant. Middle Tennessee, meanwhile, posted the exact same 3-9 overall and 2-6 CUSA record in both 2024 and 2025 — a level of stagnation that's put real pressure on Mason heading into year three.
Delaware Blue Hens
Oct 2?vs Liberty—
Sep 25?@ Virginia—
Sep 19?vs Coastal Carolina—
Sep 12?@ Vanderbilt—
Sep 3?vs Merrimack—
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
Oct 2?@ Kansas—
Sep 26?@ Jacksonville State—
Sep 19?vs Nevada—
Sep 12?@ Marshall—
Sep 5?vs Murray State—
Recent form.
Five Blue Raiders picked up preseason All-CUSA recognition, including running back DJ Taylor and cornerback Dyson McCutcheon, so the talent isn't the full story — it's whether Scelfo's offense and a retooled identity can actually turn results around. Delaware's task is simpler: keep doing what worked in year one of this conference and not let a tougher 2026 schedule catch them slipping.
