University of Delaware Athletics
2022 Football Year-in-Review
2/20/2023 4:00:00 PM | Football
NEWARK, Del. – The University of Delaware football season ended with the Blue Hens making their 18th appearance in the FCS Championship. While the 2022 season is in the rearview mirror, with the 2023 schedule being announced and next year’s roster starting to take shape, let’s take a look back at the Blue & Gold’s 8-5 campaign.
Down Goes Navy
The Ryan Carty era could not have gotten off to a better start as the Blue Hens opened the season with a 14-7 victory at FBS opponent Navy. On the first play from scrimmage, Drew Nickles recovered a fumbled handoff and Nolan Henderson found Bryce De Maille two plays later for a six-yard touchdown just 22 seconds into the game. Henderson finished 20-of-32 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns, including a 51-yard score to Chandler Harvin.
Johnny Buchanan was a blur in a strong UD defense, tying a Delaware record with 23 tackles on the day, including nine solo stops and a forced fumble. Noah Plack and Liam Trainer also set career highs with 17 and 14 tackles, respectively. Delaware’s defense forced three turnovers and held the Mids 0-for-3 on fourth downs.
The win was Delaware's first win over an FBS program since 2007 when the Blue Hens defeated Navy 59-52. UD is now 16-18 all-time as an FCS program in games against an FBS opponent, the third-most victories in the country.
5-0 Start
The Navy victory was the beginning of five-straight victories to open the 2022 season. The Blue Hens cruised to a 35-9 win over Delaware State in the Route 1 Rivalry before scoring 35 points in the first half and racking up 610 yards of total offense in a 42-21 road victory against a ranked Rhode Island squad. UD then returned home to Delaware Stadium for a pair of convincing CAA wins over Hampton (35-3) and Towson (24-10). The 5-0 start was Delaware’s second in the past three seasons.
In UD’s win at then-No. 17/14 Rhode Island, Nolan Henderson set career highs with 29 completions for 379 yards and four touchdowns. His 315 passing yards in the first half were the most in a half since Matt Nagy in 1998. Henderson followed up that performance with five touchdown passes to become the first Delaware quarterback to throw nine total touchdowns in consecutive games.
Against Hampton, Thyrick Pitts caught three of Henderson’s five touchdown passes to become the first UD wide receiver since 2013 to haul in three scoring grabs in a single game (Michael Johnson).
We're Talking Playoffs
The Blue Hens heard their name called during the NCAA selection show, marking the program’s 18th appearance in the FCS Championship. Hosting NEC-champion Saint Francis (Pa.) in the first round, the Blue & Gold put on a show at Delaware Stadium, with a dominating 56-17 victory. It was the most points scored by a Delaware team in the FCS Championship and the 39-point margin of victory was the second largest. Nolan Henderson accounted for five total touchdowns as he finished 16-of-23 passing for 266 yards and four touchdowns while also rushing for another score. Kyron Cumby rushed 10 times for 111 yards while Chandler Harvin caught four passes for 128 yards and three touchdowns. The Delaware offense finished with 586 total yards of offense with 283 rushing yards and 303 passing yards.
Delaware advanced to the second round of the playoffs where they met the No. 1 seed South Dakota State in a rematch of the 2020-21 FCS Semifinals. It was UD’s first game in the month of December since the 2010 season when the Blue Hens advanced to the national championship game. Unfortunately, things did not go Delaware’s way as SDSU claimed a 42-6 victory on its way to its first FCS national title.
WE'RE IN!! ?? pic.twitter.com/N98nvMeIeA
— Delaware Football (@Delaware_FB) November 20, 2022
Milestones Reached
Several individual Blue Hens hit personal milestones or set program records throughout the 2022 season. Nolan Henderson twice threw for five touchdowns in a game (Hampton, Monmouth) to become the first UD quarterback to accomplish the feat multiple times. He set the program record with 32 passing touchdowns on the season and also became the second in program history to surpass 50 career touchdowns, finishing with 56. Henderson finished his career in the Blue & Gold ranked third in completions (547), fourth in pass attempts (859) and fifth in passing yards (6,413).
In his final game in a Delaware uniform, Thyrick Pitts broke the program record for consecutive games with a catch with 43, dating back to the season opener of the 2019 season. He finished his career among the top 10 in UD history in career receptions (172), receiving yards (2,429) and touchdowns (23). In UD’s victory over Hampton, Pitts caught three touchdown passes to become the seventh Blue Hen to do so and the first since 2013. He also became the ninth player in program history to surpass 2,000 career receiving yards.
Johnny Buchanan got the season started off with a bang as he tied the program record, set by Darrell Booker in 1985 and 1987, with 23 tackles in Delaware’s win at Navy. He went on to lead all of FCS with 150 tackles on the season and, in the playoff game against Saint Francis, he became the 20th player in program history to surpass 300 career tackles.
Flood the Tub
The Blue Hens were dominant at home in 2022, going 6-1 in Delaware Stadium. A large factor was the support of their amazing fans. Delaware was one of just eight teams nationally to bring in more than 100,00 fans on the season and ranked eighth in average attendance through the end of the regular season with 16,902 fans per game. It was the most total fans in the Tub since 2014 and UD’s highest average attendance since 2013.
Fans were treated to a show at home as the Blue Hens put on a display in their seven games at Delaware Stadium, outscoring opponents by an average margin of 23 points per game. The offense put up 35.7 ppg and 464.7 yards of total offense. The defense only allowed six total touchdowns on its home turf while holding opponents to 12.0 ppg and just 243.6 ypg.
Postseason Accolades
When the CAA announced its postseason awards, the Blue Hens had 10 players earn All-CAA honors, including three members of the defense named to the All-CAA First Team. Kedrick Whitehead earned his fourth career All-CAA nod and third-straight selection to the first team while Johnny Buchanan (first team), Thyrick Pitts (third team) and Chase McGowan (third team) were all honored for the third time.
After leading the country in total tackles, Buchanan continued to rack up the accolades as he was selected to seven All-American teams, with six first team nods. Whitehead also earned a pair All-America honors to give him nine for his career.
Off the field, wide receiver Josh Moran and defensive lineman Tommy Walsh were both named to the 2022 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team. To be eligible, a student-athlete must have maintained a cumulative 3.50 GPA and must be a starter or key reserve that has played in at least 75 percent of their team's games.
Blue Hens have ?? earn All-@CAAFootball honors??
— Delaware Football (@Delaware_FB) November 22, 2022
??: https://t.co/5KPMZZKh85 pic.twitter.com/qodcAHUmB6
