Delaware With Tough Match-Up At Towson Saturday
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – It is a second straight road game for the Delaware Blue Hens on Saturday as they visit the #7 Towson Tigers.
Delaware is 6-2 (3-1 in the CAA), now ranked 21st in the country and coming off its first win away from home this season. The Blue Hens went up to Kingston and beat Rhode Island this past weekend, 35-13.
"Excited for the players to obviously have the opportunity to win on the road," Delaware head coach Dave Brock tells KYW Newsradio. "It's going to be important for us here as we go down the stretch, that we have the confidence we can do it."
In the win over Rhode Island, the Blue Hens got big plays from their big play threats. Senior running back Andrew Pierce rushed for 117 yards and three scores, including a 75-yard gallop on the first play of the second half that really blew the game open. Junior wide receiver Michael Johnson caught a team-high five passes for 84 yards, and he actually rushed for a team high 123 yards on three carries, including a 78-yard touchdown that capped the scoring for the day. Brock says they work hard to make sure Johnson gets as many chances as possible to make big plays, in the passing game and beyond.
Dave Brock Interview
"So we've incorporated him into the run game, just to try and make sure that he gets touches," Brock says. "He's our kick returner most weeks, again as another opportunity to try the get the ball in his hands and give him a chance to make a dynamic or explosive play, which he did last Saturday."
Johnson is averaging nearly 156 all-purpose yards a game this season for Delaware.
Towson is 8-1 on the season and last week they outscored Richmond, 48-32. When you talk about the Tigers, the conversation starts with their phenomenal junior running back, Terrance West.
"An unbelievable player," Brock says. "He's had great production. He's got 1400+ yards. When you can have production like that, and there is really no mystery about what they do, they're going to hand him the ball, it starts with him. Really he is the spark plug for everything else they do offensively. You've got to gang up like crazy to try and stop the run and stop him, which really nobody has done."
Towson is averaging more than 41 points a game on offense this season.
Last season the Blue Hens lost to the Tigers, in overtime, in Newark, 34-27.
Saturday's match-up in Towson kicks-off at 7:00pm.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
