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UD football team wins Lambert Cup, ECAC award 10:42 a.m., Jan. 7, 2004--The national champion University of Delaware football team has been awarded the Lambert Cup and been named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Team of the Year. Both awards are symbolic of Eastern football supremacy and were decided by a vote of sportswriters and broadcasters and a committee of ECAC members. The 15-1 Fightin’ Blue Hens concluded the most successful season in school history with a 40-0 victory over Colgate University in the NCAA Division I-AA national championship game played Dec. 19 in Chattanooga, Tenn. The awards will be presented Tuesday, Feb. 3, at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J. UD won the Lambert Cup with all six first-place votes and 60 points overall. Colgate was second with 53 points, followed by Pennsylvania (48), Massachusetts (41), Northeastern (36), Lehigh (30), Fordham (24), Villanova (14), Harvard (12) and Maine (11). The University of Miami won the Lambert Trophy as the top Division I-A team in the East. Indiana University of Pennsylvania was recognized as the top Division II team and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as the top Division III team. For UD, this was its first Lambert Cup and ECAC Team of the Year award since the 2000 season. The Hens have won a total of 18 Lambert Cups, the most of any Division I-AA squad, and 10 ECAC Team of the Year awards. Led by second-year Head Coach K.C. Keeler, the Hens set a school record for most wins in a season and captured the Atlantic 10 Football Conference title before roaring through the playoffs with one-sided victories over Southern Illinois (48-7), Northern Iowa (37-7), Wofford (24-9) and Colgate (40-0). UD won its first Division I-AA title and sixth national championship. The national title was UD’s first since 1979 when it captured the NCAA Division II championship under College Football Hall of Fame inductee Tubby Raymond. Keeler was a linebacker on that squad. The UD offense was led by Atlantic 10 Offensive Player of the Year and Associated Press first team All-American quarterback Andy Hall, All-American offensive guard Jason Nerys and record-setting running back Germaine Bennett. The Hens averaged 34.7 points and 391.2 total yards per game. Hall threw for 2,764 yards and 25 touchdowns while Bennett set a UD single season record with 1,625 yards to go with 21 touchdowns. On defense, All-American defensive end Shawn Johnson led a unit that allowed just 15.4 points and 303.0 total yards per game while registering 41 quarterback sacks and 116 tackles for loss. Johnson, the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year, recorded 13.5 sacks and 26 tackles for loss. All-Atlantic 10 linebacker Mondoe Davis had a team-high 110 tackles, and All-Atlantic 10 defensive backs Mike Adams and Sidney Haugabrook combined for 154 tackles. Adams had a team-high four interceptions and Haugabrook broke up nine pass attempts. To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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