DOVER — Dawson Stadium figures to have a pretty electric atmosphere on Saturday.
After all, South Carolina State’s festivities are considered the ‘Livest Homecoming in America.’
But while the numerous Bulldog fans on hand in the 22,000-seat venue will be cheering against Delaware State, it may be an interesting place for the Hornets to play, nonetheless.
All that energy should have DelState’s adrenaline going too when it opens its MEAC football schedule at South Carolina State at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Hornets are 1-6 overall while the Bulldogs are 4-2.
“When you go into a hostile environment, you’ve got to use the energy to your advantage, too,” said DSU coach Lee Hull. “It’s positive energy for the home team. .... but any energy is good. Yeah, we’re going to try to feed off it.
“We’re going to try to make them quiet,” he added. “That’s all you can do.”
Clearly, the Hornets need something to give them a spark right now.
They had an open date last weekend to recover physically. But that doesn’t change the fact that DelState has lost five games in a row and hasn’t posted a victory since August.
Of course, the start of the MEAC schedule for most of the five-team league gives the Hornets some renewed hope. The MEAC champion faces the SWAC winner in the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta on Dec. 14.
No one is giving DelState much chance to get there but it’s still in the Hornets’ control.
“I think that rejuvenates us as a team,” said Hull. “We can put the past behind us and say, ‘It’s 0-0. Let’s go try to win it, one game at a time. One practice at a time, one meeting at a time.’
“That’s what we talked about — just taking it one meeting at a time and make that the best meeting; one practice and make that the best practice. But it’s a very tough league, a very physical league. Everybody wants to show who’s the toughest so it’s going to be fun.”
The playing status of DelState quarterback Marqui Adams is up in the air going into Saturday’s game. The dual-threat sophomore missed DSU’s 23-0 loss to Robert Morris two weeks ago with an injury.
The Hornets have had an extra week to prepare C.J. Henry, if he ends up being the QB. At the same time, there’s only so much DelState can change in two weeks.
After squandering a pair of fourth-quarter leads in two of their losses, the biggest emphasis for the Hornets has been on finishing games better.
“We definitely knew we had to tweak some things,” said Hull. “It’s not a whole lot but I think it was necessary.
“But you can’t redo everything that you do — put in a whole new offense, put in a whole new defense and special teams. Players are creatures of habit. But you can always put a little twist on it, spice it up a little bit for them.”
A little history
DelState has lost its last six MEAC contests.
The Hornets’ last conference win was a 27-24, overtime victory at South Carolina State on Nov. 5, 2022. However, that was DSU’s only win over the Bulldogs in the last seven meetings.
DelState hasn’t won more than two conference games in a season since 2013, when it went 5-3 in a stretch when the MEAC had nine teams.
EXTRA POINTS
South Carolina State swept all four of the MEAC’s weekly awards for its performance in a 30-3 win over Fort Valley State last Saturday. ... After its last open date, on Sept. 7, DelState returned and fell to Wagner, 30-7. ... The Hornets have been outscored 45-0 over the last five quarters. ... DSU’s scoring average of 17.1 points per game ranks it 108 out of the 123 teams in FCS.
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