Delaware Heads To Maine For CAA Battle

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Delaware Blue Hens will head north this week to visit the Maine Black Bears in a Colonial Athletic Association match-up on Saturday.

Delaware fell to 5-3 on the season (3-2 in the CAA) with a heartbreaking 18-17 loss on the road to Towson last Saturday. The Tigers scored the game-winning touchdown with just 35 seconds remaining.

"It was a game where I thought we could've got some separation earlier in the game," Delaware head coach Danny Rocco tells KYW Newsradio. "But to their credit, they never really allowed us to get that kind of separation, which kept them very much in the hunt."

This loss came a week after the Blue Hens were on the other side of dramatics as they beat Richmond in double-overtime.

"That's kind of life in this league," Rocco says. "This is a very competitive league. All five of our CAA games this year have been very close, well into the fourth quarter."

Maine is 4-3 this season (3-3 in the CAA) and the Black Bears have a very talented running back in sophomore Josh Mack. He has rushed for 979 yards in seven games with six touchdowns while averaging 5.8 yards a carry.

"The thing that he does, that you don't see a lot of the backs doing, and we play a lot of good backs, is he's got really good patience and really good pace and tempo," Rocco says. "So every run isn't like a direct hit into the line of scrimmage. He allows a little time for the blocking pattern to unfold. Then he's got the ability to bounce or cut back."

Maine also has a talented quarterback in La Salle College High School product Chris Ferguson. The redshirt freshman has thrown for 1,358 yards and 13 touchdowns this season.

Last year, Maine beat Delaware in Newark, 28-21.

Saturday's game will kick off at 2:00pm in Portland.