University of Delaware Athletics
University of Delaware
Rhode Island
Blue Hens Return to Win Column as Defense Halts Rhode Island for 28-13 Triumph
11/1/2014 2:55:00 PM | Football
The 221 yards by Rhode Island were the fewest allowed by the Blue Hen defense in two years under Brock and the lowest since UD held William & Mary to just 210 yards in a 21-0 victory on Oct. 8, 2011. Rhode Island's 69 yards passing were the lowest total allowed by the Hens since Navy had just 46 yards in 2011.
The Blue Hens, who have struggled to force turnovers all season and were tied for last among all NCAA FCS teams with just five all year entering the game, recovered a fumble and picked off Rhode Island quarterback James Caparell twice. Caparell hit just 6 of 21 passes for 64 yards and a touchdown.
Delaware jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first half as sophomore running back Jalen Randolph (above left) ran 15 yards for a touchdown on the Hens' first possession and Hurley hit senior wide receiver Michael
Johnson (video at left/photo below on right) on a 24-yard strike in the end zone the second time Delaware had the ball. The touchdown was the first receiving score of the season for Johnson, who entered the game with a CAA-leading 56 receptions.
The Hens then made it 21-0 when redshirt freshman receiver Diante Cherry took a forward pitch from Hurley and scored from 13 yards for his first career touchdown.
Despite its struggles on offense, the Rams refused to give up and scored twice in a span of just under 
two minutes to get back into the game. After a punt by Delaware, Rhode Island got great field position at the Delaware 37-yards line and needed just four plays to score with Caparell hitting tight end Ezra Holmes for a 27-yard touchdown pass with just 1:02 left in the opening half.
Rhode Island then scored in the first minute of the second half to pull to within 21-13. Delaware received the second half kickoff, but on the second play from scrimmage Hurley juggled the ball on a run attempt and the ball popped into the hands of linebacker Tim Wienclaw who ran 15 yards untouched into the end zone with 14:15 left in the third quarter.
Neither team could do much the rest of the way except for a 44-yard touchdown pass from Hurley to a wide-open Andrew Opoku with 2:06 left in the third stanza that gave the Blue Hens some breathing room at 28-13.
Opoku, a senior special teams standout and a backup wide receiver, scored his first touchdown at Delaware on just his second career reception. He later recovered a URI fumble on a kickoff return and downed a UD punt at the Ram one-yard line to highlight an exceptional day. Delaware had two other chances to score in the third stanza but Garrett Greenway missed on field goal attempts from 39 and 36 yards.
Rhode Island gained just 83 yards in the second half as the Rams turned the ball over three times and were stopped on fourth down on two other occasions. The Rams were just 5 of 16 on third downs 
and 2 of 7 on fourth downs for the game.
Delaware linebacker David Mackall (at left) intercepted Caparell early in the third quarter, Opoku recovered a fumble by Myles Holmes on a kickoff return seconds after his touchdown reception, and Mario Rowson intercepted Caparell in the final minute of play to seal the win.
Hurley hit on 15 of 19 passes for 199 yards and three touchdowns for the game while sophomore running back Wes Hills recorded his third 100-yard rushing outing on the season as he carried 22 times for 111 yards.
Defensively for the Hens, Mackall finished with 10 tackles, two tackles for loss, and an interception and linebacker Patrick Callaway made nine stops and broke up a pass.
Delaware will return to action next Saturday when the Hens travel to Albany for a 3:30 p.m. matchup with the No. 23 ranked Great Danes.
“We needed this win today,” said Brock. “We can't wait to head up to Albany next week to find out if we have enough to make a run (to the playoffs) in November.”
Blue Hen Scratchings
• Delaware has now defeated Rhode Island three straight times and seven times in the last eight meetings
• Delaware has now scored in the first half in seven of nine games this season and in 68 of its last 69 games since 2009
• Delaware extended its scoring streaks to 210 straight games at home (since 1983), 204 games vs. FCS opponents (since 1996), and 151 straight conference games (since 1996)
• Hurley became just the third player in UD history to reach 500 career completions and moved into second place all-time at Delaware past Matt Nagy (1997-2000) with 513. Only current NFL standout Joe Flacco had more at Delaware with 595 in 2006-07.
• The game was played in steady rain with temperatures in the mid 40s
