The university is making a major change in conference realignment, joining Conference USA (CUSA) on July 1, 2025, but this decision also comes with huge consequences.
Although this move has benefits, the university also needs to endure a confusing process in order to reach Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) status. It’s a puzzling and messy process, but it has factors that need to be updated in a time of ever-changing realignment.
Some aspects of the transition from FCS to FBS make sense, like the $5,000 to $5 million application fee increase and the number of allowable scholarships for student-athletes now reaching a total of 90% for all sports for FBS members.
New schools to Division I FBS must give out at least 210 scholarships each year, amounting to no less than $6 million for athletics. A major difference between Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) and FBS schools is that FBS programs cost more to run. In order to keep up in the FBS, Delaware needs to be able to handle the new financial burdens, which include the number of scholarships and facilities improvements alongside more travel expenses.
But what doesn’t make sense is the playoff ineligibility.
Delaware football has started its two-year transition rule in its last season in the CAA, forcing the Blue Hens to miss the FCS playoffs, the postseason in CUSA next season and the same year’s College Football Playoff (CFP). The NCAA hasn’t said explicitly why this rule is in place, but it’s assumed it is so these transitioning programs don’t overstep current FBS programs too quickly or abuse the ability to move conferences so easily.
In a world where transferring is so accessible, any program can stack its roster with hidden gems from the portal. However, not many top talents would want to attend a school that couldn’t participate in postseason play, which then sets the program behind for several years. Delaware and any school transitioning to the FBS shouldn’t have to be at such a disadvantage.
It’s not like Delaware can immediately become an FBS contender nationally. Although the Blue Hens can compete in CUSA, which is among the weaker conferences in the top level of Division I football, they’d be far from becoming a national threat regardless of how many transfers are snagged.
Schools in the Power Four are going to have more talent and more funding. Even if Delaware attracts many great players between the ranks of high schoolers and transfers, no effort would be up to par to reach the level needed to contend with those programs.
Despite the disadvantages presented by becoming part of an FBS conference of mid-majors, Delaware would have a theoretical chance to gain access to the College Football Playoff if it were eligible to make it.
The 12-team CFP has a guaranteed “Group of 5” slot reserved for the highest-ranked conference champion among lower-tier conferences. Let’s say Delaware was eligible for postseason play in 2025, shockingly upsetting its nonconference opponents and running the table in CUSA next year, finishing 12-0 before winning the conference championship. The Hens would be in a golden spot to make a case as that Group of 5 candidate.
Although this is pretty far-fetched, CUSA is made up of relatively new FBS programs and, besides Liberty, no school in the conference is a safe bet to win any given matchup. Delaware could put together a great season, but because it can’t play in that CUSA championship, there is no hope at the CFP.
A team that defied some of these odds is James Madison, Delaware’s old CAA rival. The Dukes jumped right into the Sun Belt Conference and impressed, finishing 8-3 and 11-1 in their first two FBS seasons—yet were still not allowed to play in a bowl game due to the two-year transition rule. But not enough schools met the six-win threshold needed to make a bowl, slotting the Dukes into the Armed Forces Bowl in 2023.
Even then, James Madison still couldn’t play in the Sun Belt championship game. They were far and away the best team in the Sun Belt, but couldn’t participate in the championship game where the team that replaced them lost by 26. The best teams should be representing a conference in its championship.
Delaware opted to increase its number of player equivalencies on scholarship this season to 75, which makes it fair that it isn’t eligible for postseason play in the FCS, some say. The Blue Hens’ counterpart also moving to CUSA, Missouri State, opted to keep its existing scholarship count and still lost playoff eligibility for its FCS finale. The only difference between the two is that Missouri State can be ranked in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) poll because they remain at the standard number of FCS scholarships given out for their football team.
The NCAA should rearrange rules of reclassification so that worthy teams like the Hens can remain eligible for postseason play even while transitioning to the FBS.