College football season seems just around the corner after TV networks announced their slates for weeks 0-3. Multiple Group of Five schools will receive rare network TV spots, including Delaware. The Blue Hens will receive its first test as an FBS school on September 6th when they visit Colorado.
(most) Game times and TV are set! Can't come soon enough 🙌 📰: bit.ly/3FgSgYi
The game may not have the fanfare of Big Noon Kickoff, but it is a monumental moment for Delaware. It is also a moment decades in the making for the Blue Hens.
Believe it or not, Delaware was once somewhat of a fixture on network TV during the height of Tubby Raymond's reign in the late 1960s to the early 1980s. From 1968 to 1982, Delaware appeared on ABC or CBS regional broadcasts twelve times, all in the postseason.
Delaware's first four appearances on ABC regional TV came in four straight Boardwalk Bowl appearances from 1968 to 1971. In 1968, ABC began regionally airing the NCAA College Division's four bowl games: the Boardwalk Bowl in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the Grantland Rice Bowl in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the Pecan Bowl in Arlington, Texas, and the Camellia Bowl in Sacramento, California, on the same day. ABC continued this practice for the four Boardwalk Bowls Delaware played in. Delaware went 4-0 in these ABC-broadcasted Boardwalk Bowls. The Blue Hens defeated Indiana (PA) in 1968, North Carolina Central in 1969, Morgan State in 1970, and C.W. Post in 1971.
ABC aired the first three games to most of the Atlantic, but the 1971 game was controversial. Due to Philadelphia's ABC affiliate's commitment to air the city's high school football championship, Delaware residents could only see the game through the Baltimore affiliate's signal or cable service, available to only 18,000 Delaware residents. The situation was a shame since several fans in the state missed seeing Delaware gain 621 yards, 405 on the ground, in a 72-22 win over C.W. Post.
Later in the 1970s, Delaware moved on from the Boardwalk Bowl, and larger television audiences followed. ABC aired Delaware's 1974 Division II semifinal appearance in the Grantland Rice Bowl to 40 percent of the country.The following week, ABC aired the Blue Hens' Camellia Bowl appearance for the national championship to the 180 affiliates across the country. Delaware defeated UNLV 49-11 in the Grantland Rice Bowl at LSU's Tiger Stadium but lost to Central Michigan 54-14 in the Camellia Bowl.
Four years later, ABC once again showcased a pair of games from a Delaware playoff run. The network aired Delaware's semifinal game against Winston-Salem State alongside the Georgia Tech-Georgia game that most of the country received. Only two ABC affiliates, Philadelphia and High Point, North Carolina, carried Delaware's dominant 41-0 victory over Winston-Salem State.
Fortunately, more of the country saw the Blue Hens' Division II Championship Game appearance against Eastern Illinois. Half the country, including ABC affiliates in New York City, Chicago, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, received the Blue Hens-Panthers game. The matchup shared the regional slate with the Division 1-AA semifinals between UMass and Nevada and Florida A&M and Jackson State. Unfortunately, Delaware again fell short in the Division II Championship, losing 10-9.
ABC again aired Delaware's final two postseason games in their quest for a Division II Championship in 1979. While Delaware rolled to a 60-10 victory over Mississippi College in the Division II semifinal, only Jackson, Mississippi's ABC affiliate carried the game. Since Delaware did not sell enough tickets at Delaware Stadium, ABC blacked out the game on their Philadelphia and Baltimore affiliates.
ABC made up for the situation by airing Delaware's 1979 Division II Championship game against Youngstown State to 32 entire states and parts of eight others. The Blue Hens avenged televised losses in the 1974 and 1978 championship games with a 38-21 win in Albuquerque's Zia Bowl.
Delaware's final appearances on over-the-air television came during the 1982 Division 1-AA (now FCS) Playoffs. ABC aired Delaware's 17-0 semifinal win over Louisiana Tech to 40 percent of the country. Unfortunately, the game went head-to-head with CBS' national telecast of the Giants-Eagles game. Ironically, CBS aired Delaware's 17-14 loss in the 1982 Division 1-AA Championship to Eastern Kentucky to the entire country.
The 1982 Division 1-AA Championship was Delaware's last appearance on an over-the-air network. Two years later, the NCAA lost the landmark NCAA v. Oklahoma Board of Regents court case, which ended its practice of negotiating TV contracts with networks, paving the way for conferences to negotiate deals. This change prevented ABC and CBS from having to air lower-division games as they had to in the past. Delaware's frequent appearances on over-the-air television came to an abrupt stop.
Delaware-Colorado may seem like a game between an overmatched Group of Five school and a rising Big 12 school. However, history shows it marks a return to national exposure that Delaware has not seen since early in Tubby Raymond's tenure.
