Conference USA is finalizing a plan to add Delaware in 2025, the league’s latest expansion with a school moving up from Division I college football’s second tier to the Bowl Subdivision, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Monday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the school and conference were not making their internal plans public. The move is expected to be announced as soon as this week.
After being raided by the American Athletic Conference and the Sun Belt the past two years, Conference USA re-constituted in 2023 as a nine-team league, including former Championship Subdivision schools Sam Houston State and Jacksonville State.
Delaware has a rich football history, having produced Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco and 2002 NFL MVP Rich Gannon. The Blue Hens currently play in the Coastal Athletic Association.
Delaware’s most recent FCS title came in 2003, and it has reached the championship game twice since then. The Blue Hens beat Lafayette last weekend in the FCS playoffs. Coach Ryan Carty’s team plays at Montana in the second round this weekend.
The CAA, which changed its name earlier this year from the Colonial Athletic Association, had 15 teams in football this season. The league lost James Madison after the 2021 season, and the Dukes’ transition to the FBS has gone so well they reached the Top 25 this year.
Massachusetts, Old Dominion and Georgia State are a few other ex-CAA programs that now play in the FBS.
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AP College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo contributed to this report.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
