The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers will host the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens on Tuesday, with the winner poised to crawl back to .500. The Blue Hens snapped a three-game losing streak with their win against Missouri State last week, while the Hilltoppers have won back-to-back Conference USA bouts.
Western Kentucky is a 1.5-point home favorite on Tuesday with -115 Moneyline odds, while Delaware has -105 Moneyline odds. The game total for the conference showdown is set at 56.5 points. Here is a preview of the Week 9 contest featuring odds and lines from DraftKings Sportsbook.
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers vs. Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens Preview
Western Kentucky
The Hilltoppers had a rough go of things at the start of the season, losing 49-14 at Nevada in Week 1. They followed that up with additional road losses at No. 2 Georgia and No. 4 Indiana by 50 points and 38 points, respectively. Even after recovering with a 52-7 with over an FCS opponent in Mercyhurst, Western Kentucky lost 34-13 when it had another road game against New Mexico State. Entering their Week 8 bye, however, the Hilltoppers beat Missouri State 34-13 at home and Sam Houston 16-3 on the road.
Rodney Tisdale Jr. entered 2026 as Western Kentucky’s starting quarterback. Florida State transfer Brock Glenn got more run against Georgia and Indiana, though, and again when Tisdale got hurt in October. Tisdale, who returned to attempt one single pass against Sam Houston two weeks ago, owns a 67.2% completion percentage and 135.5 passer rating with four touchdowns and two interceptions. Glenn is sitting at a 52.3% completion percentage with a 105.6 passer rating, five touchdowns and two picks. He also has 322 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, making up for his inefficiency through the air by bringing a new dynamic to the Hilltoppers’ offense.
Narrowly outproducing Glenn on the ground is Ajay Allen, a Tulsa transfer who is up to 450 yards and five touchdowns from scrimmage so far this season. For as much of a workhorse as Allen is in the backfield, Jonathan Stafford Jr. fills a similar security blanket role through the air. The freshman receiver leads Conference USA with 41 catches, which he has turned into 369 yards and a touchdown. No other WKU pass-catcher has more than 16 catches or 155 yards, while tight end Coleson Arends is the only one with multiple touchdowns.
Western Kentucky’s defense ranks No. 88 in yards allowed per game, No. 106 in yards allowed per play and No. 116 in points allowed per game. In the opponent-adjust SP+ efficiency metric, the Hilltoppers slot in at No. 115 on offense, No. 106 on defense and No. 20 on special teams – good for No. 116 overall.
Delaware
The Blue Hens, who are in their second season at the FBS level, opened 2026 with a 42-7 win over an FCS team in Merrimack. They proceeded to lose by just nine at Vanderbilt and score a 22-14 win over Coastal Carolina, only to lose 42-3 at Virginia, 30-14 at home to Liberty and 33-30 at Middle Tennessee State. Delaware got back on track when Missouri State came to town – at least offensively – beating them 61-38 last Tuesday.
Delaware lost starting quarterback Nick Minicucci to a knee injury in the Virginia loss, leading to a three-man rotation of EJ Archield Jr., Tyler Bell, and Braden Streeter against Liberty. While Bell took the reins versus Middle Tennessee, Minicucci returned to action against Missouri State. He went 20-for-29 passing with 225 yards five touchdowns and one interception, plus a rushing touchdown. The senior is now completing 59.8% of his passes for 212.6 yards per game, 10 touchdowns, four picks, a 146.4 passer rating and two rushing touchdowns after leading Conference USA in completions, attempts, passing yards, and passing yards per game in 2025.
The Blue Hens’ top three running backs of Jo Silver, Kaderris Roberts, and Viron Ellison Jr. rushed for just 47 yards on 14 attempts in Week 5 and 52 yards on 13 carries in Week 7, then finally broke through with 182 yards on 27 carries in Week 8. Silver and Roberts are both over 350 scrimmage yards on the year with eight touchdowns between them. Sean Wilson is once again Delaware’s top target in the passing game with 408 yards on 31 grabs, right alongside Donovan Lewis’ 271 yards on 22 catches. Oklahoma State transfer Da’Wain Lofton has been a go-to option with 312 yards on 19 receptions, but all he could muster up last week was an 11-yard carry.
After their explosive outing last week, the Blue Hens jumped from No. 103 to No. 71 in points scored per game. Their offense also ranks No. 71 in yards per play and No. 75 in yards per game. On defense, they rank No. 101 in yards allowed per play, No. 107 in points allowed per game, and No. 109 in yards allowed per game. When it comes to SP+, Delaware slots in at No. 117 overall, up three spots from last week. It has the No. 99 offense, No. 126 defense, and No. 111 special teams, per that model.
Western Kentucky vs. Delaware Pick, Best Bet
Getting Minicucci back brought new life to Delaware’s offense, although the 61-point explosion has to be placed in context. The Blue Hens were facing the 11th-worst defense in SP+, and they were averaging just 19.0 points per game versus FBS opponents before that game. Against Middle Tennessee State and Coastal Carolina – who boast the No. 120 and No. 121 defenses in SP+ – Delaware scored just 30 and 22 points, respectively. That’s a far more reasonable bar for the Blue Hens’ offense this week, especially on the road.
Delaware is 0-3 on the road, while Western Kentucky is 2-0 at home. Granted, those wins came against an FCS opponent and a team that the Blue Hens blew out in their own right, but they are notable trends to keep an eye on. WKU’s last two games were wins by 21 and 13 points. Even though they came against the 10th and 11th-worst teams in SP+, it isn’t as if Delaware is leaps and bounds better. I trust the Hilltoppers to defend their home field against a wildly inconsistent CUSA team with a porous defense, which should give whichever Western Kentucky quarterback takes the field a smoother road to success. And neither team has played a game decided by one point this season, so I like the value on the spread more than the Moneyline.
