Delaware rolls past Delaware State in first round of playoffs

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Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	11	29
Total Yards	144	536
Passing	56	189
Rushing	88	347
Penalties	5-46	3-26
3rd Down Conversions	2-12	9-15
4th Down Conversions	2-2	1-3
Turnovers	3	1
Possession	25:59	34:01

Air/Ground Leaders
Delaware State Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Winton 10/19 56 0 1 Taylor 0/1 0 0 0	Delaware Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Flacco 11/20 189 1 0
Delaware State Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Jones 9 34 0 13 Winton 10 19 0 8	Delaware Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Cuff 38 288 4 37 Thaxton 11 35 1 17
Delaware State Receiving   REC YDS TD LG McNeil 4 29 0 9 Strother 2 21 0 11	Delaware Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Love 4 67 0 38 Michaud 3 59 0 22

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				DSU	DEL
	TD	11:47	Robbie Agnone 32 Yd Pass From Joe Flacco (Jon Striefsky Kick) Drive: 4 plays, 44 yds, 1:31	0	7
	TD	08:11	Omar Cuff 1 Yd Run (Jon Striefsky Kick) Drive: 5 plays, 57 yds, 1:51	0	14
	TD	01:52	Omar Cuff 1 Yd Run (Pat Failed) Drive: 8 plays, 57 yds, 3:18	0	20
SECOND QUARTER				DSU	DEL
	FG	13:18	Jon Striefsky 22 Yd Drive: 7 plays, 52 yds, 2:20	0	23
	TD	07:00	Omar Cuff 37 Yd Run (Jon Striefsky Kick) Drive: 10 plays, 92 yds, 4:30	0	30
THIRD QUARTER				DSU	DEL
	TD	10:07	Omar Cuff 2 Yd Run (Jon Striefsky Kick) Drive: 13 plays, 91 yds, 4:53	0	37
	TD	01:16	Phillip Thaxton 1 Yd Run (Jon Striefsky Kick) Drive: 15 plays, 97 yds, 6:44	0	44
FOURTH QUARTER				DSU	DEL
	TD	12:48	Reggie Mccoy 19 Yd Fumble Return (Peter Gaertner Kick)	7	44

NEWARK, Del. (AP) -- Omar Cuff ran for a school-record 288 yards and four touchdowns to lead Delaware to a 44-7 playoff victory Friday over Delaware State in the first meeting between the in-state rivals.

Pearlman: Yellow Blue Hens
If not for Saturday's playoff game, Delaware and Delaware State might never have gotten together on the football field. Did fear play a factor in keeping a rivalry down? In a September piece, Page 2 writer and Delaware grad Jeff Pearlman discusses just that. Story

A record crowd of 19,765 packed Delaware Stadium, the third-largest crowd for a first-round game in Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) playoff history.

Delaware (9-3) will face the winner of Saturday's matchup between top-seeded Northern Iowa and New Hampshire next weekend.

Cuff had 38 carries and broke the FCS mark for rushing TDs in a season with 33. He already set the FCS mark for total touchdowns in a season and now has 37.

Delaware scored its first five possessions to take control from the start. The Hens finished with 536 and 29 first downs. The Hornets (10-2) had 144 yards and 11 in first downs.

Delaware only had to go 42 yards for its first touchdown after a 22-yard Delaware State punt. On the TD, quarterback Joe Flacco had a long time to throw, finally rolling out toward the sidelines and lobbing a 32-yard scoring pass to tight end Robbie Agnone.

Cuff finished off a five-play, 57-yard drive on Delaware's second possession, scoring on a 1-yard run. He added another 1-yard TD run in the first quarter as the Hens pushed their lead to 20-0 by the end of the opening period.

Jon Striefsky's 22-yard field goal made it 23-0 early in the second period. Cuff capped off the half with a 37-yard scoring run.

Cuff ended the half with 199 yards on 25 carries.

Delaware made it 44-0 with back-to-back scoring drives of 92 and 91 yards to start the second half. Cuff had a 1-yard TD run and Phillip Thaxton scored from 1-yard out.

The only touchdown for the Hornets came on a 19-yard fumble recovery by Reggie McCoy with 12:48 left in the contest.

Delaware State's Kareem Jones, finished with 34 yards on nine carries and Vashon Winton was 10-of-19 for 56 yards with an interception.

Flacco completed 11-of-20 passes for 189 yards and a TD.