Boxscore
Photos Courtesy of Mark Campbell

NEWARK, Del. -- The University of Delaware came up with a huge performance for the second straight week Saturday night as the Blue Hens jumped out fast to a 20-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of action and cruised to a 43-27 Colonial Athletic Association football upset victory over No. 12 ranked University of Massachusetts at sold-out Delaware Stadium.

Blue Hen junior quarterback Pat Devlin continued his spectacular play as he hit on 19 of 26 passes for 284 yards and four touchdowns - two to senior wideout Mark Duncan (at right) - and the UD defense stifled the UMass running game all night.

Duncan caught seven passes for 107 yards on the night, surpassing the 100-yard mark for the second straight week and extending his streak of catching at least one pass to 30 straight games, the second longest mark in UD history.

Delaware (4-2, 2-2 CAA) won its second straight game and snapped an eight-game losing streak to Top 25 opponents as the Hens dominated a Minutemen team (3-2, 1-1 CAA) that had won three straight games by an average of 28 points following a season-opening 21-17 loss to Kansas State.

"We played a great game tonight and beat a very good football team," said Delaware head coach K.C. Keeler. "It's been a while since we had a win like this. It was an all-around effort. I've been saying all year that we have a good football team - as good as anybody out there. Our record might not reflect that right now, but we keep making big strides and keep getting better each week."

The Hens' last win over a Top 25 opponent came in the 2007 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision semifinals when Delaware knocked off No. 4 Southern Illinois 20-17 on the road.

The Hens, who scored 20 points in the opening quarter for the first time since the 2007 season, snapped a personal two-game losing streak to UMass as they held the CAA's third best rushing team to 143 yards under its average. CAA rushing leader Tony Nelson, who entered the contest averaging 114 yards per game and who piled up 163 yards against the Hens in last season's 17-7 win, was held to just 33 yards on 15 carries.

Senior Jon Striefsky booted field goals of 22, 24, and 23 yards to become Delaware's career field goal leader with 33 and redshirt freshman cornerback Marcus Burley (bottom left) made the biggest defensive play of the night for the Hens when he returned a first-quarter Nelson fumble 42 yards for a touchdowns.

The Hens put this one away early with a red-hot start. Wide receiver Mark Mackey (middle right) made a spectacular one-handed touchdown catch from Devlin from 15 yards out to open the scoring seven minutes in and Delaware added a pair of touchdowns just 54 seconds apart.

Devlin hit Duncan in stride down the left sideline on a 22-yard scored for a 14-0 lead and after Massachusetts got the ball back, Burley scooped up a fumble by Nelson, who was hit by defensive end Chris Morales, and sprinted untouched down the sidelines for a 42-yard return with 4:17 left in the opening stanza.

Mackey's touchdown was set up when Blue Hen linebacker Paul Worrilow recovered a fumble by Havens on UMass' first drive of the day.

The lead ballooned to 23-3 at the half on a 22-yard field goal by Striefsky with 9:22 left before the break, and the Hens went up 37-6 with touchdowns 17 seconds apart late in the third quarter as Devlin tossed a four-yard scoring pass to tight end Trevor Mooney and then found Duncan for the second time on a 27-yard strike. Mooney, taking over for injured starter Colin Naugle (knee), just got a foot down in the back of the end zone for his first career touchdown catch.

Duncan's scoring catch was set up when All-American Charles Graves intercepted a pass by Havens on the previous play. The pick was Graves' team-high third of the season.

"This is really the first week we came out and started early and that really helped us make the rest of the game a lot easier," said Devlin, whose four touchdowns is the most by a UD signal-caller since Joe Flacco tossed four in a win over Navy in 2007. "Our defensive usually doesn't give up 20 points in a game so when you can get that in the first quarter, it really builds your confidence. We have so many guys stepping up and its really good to see Mark (Duncan) doing such a great job. He is a veteran who knows what to look for."

Delaware, which posted a 27-17 win at Maine last week on the road by piling up 512 total yards, put up some big numbers again as the offense rolled to 23 first downs and 411 total yards while converting 6 of 11 third-down attempts.

UMass gained 357 total yards for the game, but 141 came in the final quarter when the Minutemen narrowed the margin with three touchdowns in the final 11:29.

Havens completed 24 of 36 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns with Victor Cruz collecting 10 passes for 118 yards.

UMass could manage only two field goals by NCAA field goal leader Armando Cuko in the the first three quarters of play, including a career-long 51-yarder in the first quarter and a 37-yarder midway through the third quarter.

"I'm really glad for our kids, they did a phenomenal job tonight," said Keeler. "It's great to get a win over a Top 25 team because this was a game we had to win. I think we found ourselves tonight and we really gained some confidence and hopefully we keep playing like this."

Havens hit tight end Andrew Krevis on a four-yard scoring toss with 11:29 left to play and added a 52-yard touchdown pass to tight end Emil Igwenagu with 7:43 left to cut the lead to 40-20. The Minutemen closed the scoring on a 20-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Scott Woodward to Aaron Fears with 55 seconds left.

Striefsky, a 2007 All-American who shook off a missed extra point on the Hens' first touchdown of the game, kicked a school-record tying three field goals in a game for the third time in his career and upped his career total to 33, breaking the mark of 32 shared by Sean Leach (1994-97) and Brad Shushman (2002-04).

Delaware will return to action next Saturday when the Hens travel to Towson for a 3:30 p.m. start on Oct. 24 at Johnny Unitas Stadium. The Tigers, who have lost two straight to the Hens, including a 31-21 setback a year ago, defeated Rhode Island 36-28 Saturday to snap a two-game losing streak.