The University of Delaware added three more Football Championship Subdivision opponents to its schedule as it continues to craft its first five years in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
After years of playing guaranteed payday games at FBS schools, now that Delaware has moved up a level, they’ll be the ones giving money to Merrimack (2026), LIU (2027) and Bucknell (2029) to play in Newark.
Combined with the previously scheduled 2025 game with Delaware State, there will be an FCS team playing inside Delaware Stadium in four of the first five seasons, with the 2028 campaign still largely in limbo.
Home games are offset by at least one road game in a member of the Power 5 conferences, as UD will face teams from the Big 10, Big XII, ACC and SEC, all of which pay Delaware to play in their stadiums.
The school also announced that its 2025 game at Wake Forest has been moved to the penultimate week of the regular season on Nov. 22, when major conferences have typically added a break from conference play before rivalry games.
Delaware will play a full FCS schedule in 2024, including a full bracket of Coastal Athletic Association opponents, as they transition to the FBS level that allows 85 scholarships instead of 63.
Delaware still has two vacancies to announce in 2028, and the school has said it intends to play more games at Delaware Stadium, but at least in the short term that appears to be a lower priority.
FUTURE SCHEDULES FOR DELAWARE NON-CONFERENCE CELEBRATIONS
2025 – Delaware State at Colorado, UCONN at Wake Forest
2026 – Coastal Carolina, at Vanderbilt, vs. Merrimack, at Virginia
2027 – LIU, at Penn State, James Madison, at UCONN
2028 – at JMU, in Maryland, TBA, TBA
2029 – in Pittsburgh, Bucknell, Buffalo, on the Carolina coast
2030 – TBD, in Buffalo, TBD, TBD
2031 – TBD, JMU, TBD, TBD
2032 – TBD, at JMU, TBD, TBD