The Lambert Trophy/Cup (Part V)

This is the fifth and final chapter profiling teams covered by this site that won the Lambert Trophy or Cup, the once-coveted but now-forgotten award presented to the East's top team. Today, we look at winners since the formation of NCAA Division II in 1973. In the early 1980s, the D-II Lambert spun off a branch for I-AA (FCS) teams, previously covered. 

If there's one thing I can conclude from this little journey, it's this: Delaware is very, very good, and perhaps the Hens should have moved up to FBS a whole ago.

Here are parts I, II, III and IV. And if you make to the end of this post, you'll find a small bonus waiting.

Delaware returned to the Boardwalk Bowl — the Hens’ fifth and final appearance — and lost to Grambling.

The Hens qualified for the inaugural NCAA D-II playoffs and lost to Central Michigan in the title game.

I’m running out of thing to say about these guys. Um, the uniforms looked great?

The Minutemen reached the inaugural Division I-AA (FCS) national championship game and lost to Nevada.

Hens QB Scott Brunner guided the New York Giants to their first-ever road playoff win two years later.

The Chargers opened the season with a 14-13 win over FCS UConn. Head coach Mark Whipple guided UMass to the 1998 FCS title.

Head coach Tony Sparano later led the Miami Dolphins to an AFC East title in 2008, one year after finishing 1-15.

The Chargers outscored their opponents 433-98 in the regular season and went 2-1 against FCS foes.

New Haven averaged 40.2 points per game, something I had a hard time doing in the NCAA Playstation 2 video game on freshman difficulty. 

BONUS: New England's lone Division III winner of Lambert loot:

Freshman and future Heisman candidate Joe Dudek ran for 1,094 yards and 16 touchdowns.

The Lambert Trophy/Cup (Part IV)

Part IV of this seemingly never-ending series on the possibly-gone-but-possibly-not-forgotten Lambert Cup and Trophy takes us to the College Division. Before the early 1970s, college football was split in the "University Division" (later D-I) and the "College Division" (later D-II; the bigger schools were split off into Division I-AA/FCS in 1978 and eventually got their own Lambert).

Part I coverers D-I/University Division; Parts II and III cover FCS. The fifth and final part will cover Division II from 1973 onward. As for this segment ... hope you like Delaware.

The Hens' only loss was to undefeated Bowling Green, which is neither bowling nor green.

Coach David Nelson was 84–42–2 over 15 seasons later was the secretary-editor of the NCAA rules committee. Basically, he edited the rulebook.

The Hens were crowned small college national champ by UPI, which, like the Lambert awards, barely registers a pulse nowadays.

The first, last and only UMaine team to play in a bowl game. Little All-American linebacker John Huard played several years in the NFL and CFL, and QB Dick DeVarney was the shortstop for Maine’s 1964 College World Series team.

Delaware defeated Indiana — that’s Indiana University of Pennsylvania — in the Boardwalk Bowl in Atlantic City.

Delaware crushed N.C. Central in the Boardwalk Bowl. 

I think Wesleyan is the only NESCAC team to win a Lambert award. No, Bill Belichick wasn’t on this team. Note that both the Hens and the Cards was the college football centennial logo on their jerseys instead of the helmets like everyone else.

The Hens topped Morgan State in the Boardwalk Bowl.

Delaware was crowned small college national champ by both the AP and UPI.

The Hens chickened out of the Boardwalk Bowl rather than lay an egg against UMass.